Wildfire Energy has secured a $100,000 grant from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources as part of the Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII).
The latest round of the BRII is supporting the early-stage development of solutions to tackle five specific government policy and service delivery challenges.
Wildfire is receiving the funding for its proposal to the challenge of “turning farm crops into a renewable hydrogen source” as sought by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
Wildfire will use the funding to complete a feasibility study into producing renewable hydrogen from sorghum and wheat crop residues using Wildfire’s proprietary MIHG (moving injection horizontal gasification) technology. Wildfire has partnered on the study with Professor Bernadette McCabe from the Centre for Agricultural Engineering at the University of Southern Queensland.
The study will form part of a wider effort by the GDRC to find environmentally-friendly ways to produce fertilizers that are critical to the success of Australia’s grains industry. In the future, the production of such fertilizers will rely less on fossil fuels and the world’s most energy-intensive processes.
Wildfire will work closely with the GRDC to complete the study which will involve establishing the crop residue and biochar value chains, processing grain crop residues in the MIHG pilot plant and developing a comprehensive techno-economic model which will be used to evaluate the impact of key parameters on the levelized cost of hydrogen production, such as processing scale at the farm and regional levels and the co-processing of other waste feedstocks.
The results will be used to define a proof of concept project for converting grain crop residues into renewable hydrogen with the potential for Wildfire to receive a further grant of up to $1M.
“Wildfire is excited to have been awarded funding for this project and looks forward to working with the BRII and GDRC teams. This grant funding recognizes the potential of our MIHG technology to address the pressing issue of decarbonizing our agricultural sector and producing hydrogen and fertilizers in a more sustainable manner by using farm crop residues.”
Greg Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Wildfire Energy.
“This initiative is giving Australian businesses with clever ideas the opportunity to develop them further, with the potential of creating products that will benefit the community and the Australian economy.”
Hon Karen Andrews MP, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology.
