HyValue

Competition: Breakthrough 2: Transform

Amount awarded: £267,954

Led by: Dwr Cymru Welsh Water

Partners: Costain, University of South Wales

Project completed: January 2023

Water cycle tag: Bioresources, resource recovery and circularity

HyValue aims to convert sewage-derived biogas into hydrogen, to increase the decarbonisation potential of biogas by up to 10 times, whilst maximising the CO2 capture at source and minimising emissions (methane, NOx, particulates, etc.).

As a collaboration between Welsh Water, Costain and the University of South Wales, the project will initially study hydrogen production as an alternative use for the biogas, by comparing its sustainability to the other mainstream uses of biogas and incorporating the impact of Carbon-Capture-Utilisation-Storage (CCUS).

The project team’s hypothesis is that producing hydrogen from biogas provides the highest potential environmental and decarbonisation benefits, whilst providing the best value for money for customers.

If the study proves the merits of producing hydrogen from biogas, the partners aim to produce an outline design of a plant at one of Welsh Water’s anaerobic digestion facilities, with the aim to assess the technical feasibility of building a plant in AMP8.

“HyValue is a major stepping stone towards the industry becoming the bio-refineries of the Net-Zero future, in which hydrogen will play a major role. The project enables the industry to maximise the financial & environmental value that can be extracted from sewage sludge, on behalf of its customers.”

– Ben Burggraaf, Head of Energy, Welsh Water