Introducing HERO® - The Catalyst for a New Energy Era
How does HERO® work?
HERO® uses a patented catalyst to create the conditions to combine hydrogen and oxygen into pure water. In doing so, it creates a lot of energy, in the form of heat. We capture both the water and the heat.
What sort of hydrogen do you use?
HERO® does not care where hydrogen comes from, as long as it is 99.9% pure, which is typical industrial grade. Our preference is “green” hydrogen, which comes from a process called electrolysis, where an electric current is used to separate water (H2O), into its hydrogen and oxygen elements. HERO® brings them back together again.
How much electricity does the HERO® process need?
None, it is purely a chemical process.
How much greenhouse gas does it emit?
Again, none.
What do you do with the water?
We re-use it. It’s not so much “water” as we know it, it’s pure H2O. It has no bacteria, metals or other dissolved matter. You couldn’t drink it without adding some of these things back in. But it is perfect for the electrolysis process to make more green hydrogen.
What is HERO® made of?
That’s our secret, but we can say that there is nothing rare or toxic in it and the elements are sourced from responsible supply chains. They can be recycled and reused in our scientific research.
How often does it have to be replaced?
It doesn’t. HERO® is a “true catalyst”. Unlike some other common catalysts, it does not “give” itself to the process, so it doesn’t wear out.
How much heat can you make and how fast?
That depends on the “work” it is doing, or what you are trying to heat. But on its own, we can reach 800 degrees Celsius in 3 minutes and constantly hold it at that temperature.
How do you use the heat?
We have developed an “active side heat exchanger” which transfers the heat directly into what it is that we are trying to heat. Usually that means room-temperature water to make hot water or steam, but can also mean oil, air and other gases, including hydrogen itself. We transfer the heat via conduction.
We can also make a “hot plate” function, for things like baking and drying.
What do you mean by “conduction”?
When you burn fossil fuels or organic matter, the heat is radiated. The closer you get to the flame the hotter it is (think of holding out your hands to a campfire). This creates inefficiencies and, on top of that, it creates greenhouse gases.
While technically very hot, a hydrogen flame is terrible at heating anything. It doesn’t radiate that heat well. HERO® is more effective at heating because it primarily conducts the heat rather than radiating it. It’s the difference between holding your cold hands up in front of a heater compared to actually grabbing the heater. If you want to get REALLY hot, grab it. That’s what HERO® does.
This is the beauty of HERO®. It can liberate the heat directly from hydrogen, without the inefficiencies or safety issues of a flame, and directly conduct that heat into the working fluid or gas via our unique heat-exchanger.
For the same amount of heat, we use hydrogen more efficiently, and for a relatively rare resource like green hydrogen, that’s a good thing.
Can you mix hydrogen and gas and burn them to create energy?
Yes, you can, but why would you? Because hydrogen doesn’t burn the same way as fossil gases, mixing it above a low percentage creates many engineering problems and the more hydrogen you use the worse they get. And if you’re burning them with air, you’ll create greenhouse gases.
We’ve already generated power-station quality steam using our heat exchanger, without the complications or wastefulness of burning hydrogen and without creating greenhouse gas.
