COMPANY BACKGROUND

In the mid-1990s, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington, initiated a group of internally-funded R&D projects to investigate the potential use of engineered microstructures, including fluidic microchannels, for energy conversion and chemical processing. The team, led by M Kevin Drost and Robert S Wegeng, considered four classes of process systems:

• Heat Pumps
• Heat Engines
• Chemical Reactors
• Chemical Separators

Inspired by advances in microfabrication, including consideration of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) components such as micro-motors, micro-valves and micro-fluidic structures, this multi-year effort included several proof-of-principle hardware demonstrations and identified a strong potential for process intensification of unit operations that are heat and/or mass transport limited.

Early projects included insitu propellant production for mars, hydrogen production for automotive fuel cells, and a solar thermochemical advanced reactor system (STARS). In 2015, in the interest of getting national laboratory technologies into commercial use more rapidly, the Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transfer began training programs for national laboratory researchers. “Lab Corps”, as it was first called, had an objective of teaching technology developers to think like entrepreneurs.

In addition, Lab Corps (or Energy I-Corps, as it is now called) provided an opportunity for technology teams to perform evaluations, with advice from mentors and industry, on what the best routes might be for the technologies being developed.

The inaugural version of Lab Corps included a STARS-focused team consisting of two PNNL employees (Chris Klasen and Robert Wegeng) plus Peter Brehm (from Infinia Technology Corporation) who supported the team as an industrial mentor.

After weeks of training, the STARS commercial opportunity received high scores from Lab Corps trainers and advisors. With encouragement from the Lab Corps experience, Klasen, Wegeng and Brehm agreed to form STARS Technology Corporation, with an initial incorporation in Washington State in late 2016.

PRODUCTS

The high temperature recuperative heat exchanger is at Technology Readiness Level 8 (TRL 8), fully mass producible.

The microchannel steam-methane reforming reactor is also at TRL 8. The design is mass producible. An automated assembly process will be developed when the quantity of orders warrants the investment in a new production line. The existing production capacity is anticipated to be able to assemble up to 10 reactors per week at the fabricator’s facility.

The STARS Hydrogen Generator will be at TRL 8 upon completion of demonstration testing. The first commercial demonstration version has been designated Beta 1. The Beta 2 version will improve system efficiency, reliability, and manufacturability. Beta 3, which will be built in 2023, will use lessons learned from the commercial demonstration of Beta 1 and 2 to prepare the system for full commercial production.

STARS is currently in discussion with several potential industry partners on prospective commercial demonstration projects.

STARS Technology Corporation is currently working with Southern California Gas Company and SunLine Transit Agency on a demonstration project that will place two commercial prototype STARS Clean Hydrogen Generators — Beta 1 and Beta 2 — at SunLine’s hydrogen fueling station in Thousand Palms, California. The research project, called “H2 SilverSTARS”, will produce clean hydrogen to fuel SunLine’s fleet of 17 hydrogen fuel cell electric buses and support further expansion.

Beta 3 is intended to be the refined, mass-producible, commercial prototype.

STARS’ Hydrogen Generators are “chemical transformers”. The placement of STARS units on the natural gas grid transforms the existing gas grid into Regional Clean Hydrogen Grids, enables the accelerated rollout of fuel cell electric vehicles, and provides an opportunity for grid electricity storage with co-generation that offsets the variability of wind and solar.

The first unit to be delivered will be a half-sized hydrogen generator, designated Beta-1. It is capable of producing the hydrogen needed for three of SunLine’s fuel cell buses. The project, called H2 SilverSTARS, will produce clean hydrogen from renewable natural gas (RNG) and water — meeting the new Federal Clean Hydrogen Standard — at any location adjacent to a natural gas pipeline.

The first three clean H2 generators are commercial prototypes. The intention is to improve the design of the units in SunLine’s real application to improve and evolve commercial STARS units that can be brought into production during 2024. The near-term goal is to attain low capital costs through economies of hardware mass production so that clean hydrogen can be produced and sold at prices competitive with gasoline and diesel fuel.

The STARS Hydrogen Generator uses proven leading edge, microchannel process technology and additive manufacturing (3D-printing) to mass produce modular chemical reaction systems that convert water and methane into hydrogen in a process called steam methane reforming (SMR). With this disruptive technology, it is now possible to transform the natural gas grid into the hydrogen grid without costly pipelines or delivery vehicles. It is no longer necessary to invest in large central hydrogen production plants or create new infrastructure for collecting and transporting waste to make hydrogen. Distributed systems, using biomethane, will enable gas distribution companies and end users to make clean hydrogen on site.

The STARS’ microchannel reactors and heat exchangers are typically about 1/100 the size of conventional reactors and heat exchangers. Their “chemical process chips” were created with the goal of revolutionizing the chemical processing industry, the way microcircuitry revolutionized the electronics industry. Smaller size and 3D-printing minimize production waste and material costs to lower capital costs. Miniaturization provides greater operational safety because there is less methane and hydrogen (source term) in the high temperature section of the process hardware. Yet the speed of the chemical reaction is increased by over 100 times faster so that it produces as much hydrogen in the same timeframe as conventional reactors.

The compact design reduces the footprint, allowing onsite installation at most locations. Onsite levelized costs of hydrogen production are projected to be less than $2.50 per kilogram with moderate quantities of hardware mass production (~1,000 units per year).

For hydrogen energy users and producers: The STARS-165 Hydrogen Generators provide a pathway to near term (within 24 months) low-cost, clean hydrogen to economically reduce carbon intensity of their operations.

STARS also provides an immediate opportunity for OEM suppliers of modular hydrogen generating systems, which can economically produce from a few hundred kilograms per day to several metric tons per day on site.