Carbon280 Launches $16m Pilot Plant Demonstrating Hydrogen Storage Breakthrough

Carbon280 announced the launch of its state-of-the-art Hydrilyte® Technology Pilot Plant in Kwinana, Western Australia. The company raised over $16 million to accelerate its innovative liquid hydrogen storage solution, Hydrilyte®.

The pilot and laboratory facilities were funded through a $10.6 million seed investment led by Woodside Energy, with support from UK-based renewable energy company Hive Energy and a Singaporean family office, alongside a forecast $5.5 million in R&D rebates from the Australian Government.

Australia’s hydrogen ambitions face growing headwinds, with rising costs, technical complexity, and a number of high-profile projects stalled or cancelled. Carbon280’s multi-patented Hydrilyte® technology addresses a major bottle neck in the hydrogen supply chain, enabling hydrogen to be stored safely at ambient temperature and pressure. This makes the storage and transport of hydrogen safer, more efficient and more economically viable.

The Hydrilyte® Technology Pilot Plant –a 100kW TRL6 prototype – will prove the Hydrilyte® technology at an industrially relevant scale, delivering critical performance data for partners and investors.

Hydrilyte®’s ability to separate hydrogen from helium, and store the hydrogen ready for transport, gives it the potential to advance natural hydrogen projects in Australia and globally. Natural hydrogen occurs mixed with other gasses that need to be separated. Helium is one of these gasses and very hard to separate from hydrogen because of their similar molecular size. Hydrilyte® enables separation and storage, ready for transport, in a single step, facilitating the monetisation of both hydrogen and helium for natural hydrogen developers.

As a safe, pumpable liquid, the hydrogen-containing Hydrilyte® can be stored and transported using existing liquid fuels infrastructure, including pipelines, tankers, and ships. More broadly, the technology has the potential to deliver a hydrogen transportation method that costs less, is inherently safe, energy efficient and ultra-scalable.