Foret Plasma Labs

·         Foret Plasma Labs (FPL) has developed, patented, and tested a process for the production of hydrogen from electrolysis that is a step change improvement in capital cost and hydrogen generation over conventional electrolysis processes. Our objective is to produce the lowest cost hydrogen with greatly reduced capital investment required. Further the process itself is straightforward which contributes to the significantly reduced cost for the production facility. The simplicity of the production process lends itself to the siting of the process in proximity to solar farms where the renewable energy can be accessed to power the process. The result is the production of “green” hydrogen which will qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act 45V direct $3/kg payment for five years or a tax credit. 

·        This new process utilizes a plasma to initiate and sustain the electrolysis process. Plasma has a 10-fold greater power density that resistive heating.  The result is a non-Faraday rate production of hydrogen production for a given energy input. The ionization resulting from the plasma is also termed glow discharge. The process was thoroughly tested and vetted in a project conducted at the University of CA- Merced. The testing indicated a rate of hydrogen production that was eight times greater for a given energy input than that achieved in conventional electrolysis facility.  This non-Faraday behavior of plasma electrolysis has been documented by other researchers as well. FPL has developed a method to harness this benefit in a commercial process.   

·        In the conventional electrolysis process hydrogen can be produced from polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers at a cost of $5 to $6/kg-H2, assuming existing technology, electrolyzer capital costs as high as $1,500/kW, and grid electricity prices of $0.05/kWh to $0.07/kWh. Typically, 48 kWh of electricity is required to produce 1 kg of hydrogen in this process.

·        The capital cost for the plasma electrolysis process is approximately 1/10 of the capital cost of an equivalently sized convention electrolysis system. The electricity required to produce 1 kg of hydrogen in this process is approximately 6 kWh.  These two factors lead to an expected cost to produce hydrogen of less than $1/kg. 

·        In June of 2021, Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm launched the DOE’s Energy Earthshots Initiative, to accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade. The first Energy Earthshot—Hydrogen Shot—seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per kilogram in one decade. The plasma electrolysis system described here has achieved this goal today.

·        To provide an example of the economics of this process, consider a 50kW plasma electrolysis system. The capital cost for this system is approximately $15,000 with an expected hourly production rate under plasma electrolysis of 8 kg of H2. If the electric power is provided by solar the total revenue per kg is $4 (market price) + $3 (IRA 45V payment) = $7/kg. Assuming 12 hour/day operation annual revenue is $245k. Total operating costs are expected to be less than $2/kg.

·        The process is scalable to significantly larger daily volumes of H2

·        FPL is seeking an investor to form a new company to manufacture a number of these systems and initiate production and sales. The investor will license the technology and provide the capital required for the systems and associated production and operating costs.