French company Qairos Energies announced plans to invest approximately €18.8 million ($23 million) in a facility converting hemp into hydrogen and methane.
Based in Mareil-en-Champagne, Qairos said hydrogen would be converted to electricity in fuel cells powering buses and trains. The facility would also produce methane for Gaz Réseau Distribution France, France's natural gas distributor and a European leader.
Pyrogasification
The proposed facility in Trangé, near Le Mans in northwestern France, would use pyrogasification as an alternative to electrolysis. Heating biomass at high temperatures with little oxygen converts it to gas while producing CO2 and heat. The waste-minimizing method also removes tars arising from some processing methods.
Following industrialization and development work in 2020, the company conducted hemp trials. Full operations would require hemp from 1,000 hectares.
Access to the energy network
The 3,500-square-meter facility, nine meters tall with 15-meter air inlets and outlets, would occupy a 23,000-square-meter industrial site. Building and other permits allowed synthetic methane injection into France's energy network.
Maximum hydrogen capacity would be 3.6 tonnes daily, but the company's target was around two tonnes of hydrogen and 200 cubic meters of methane per day.
Deputy director Kévin Collet said that although pyrogasification was established in Europe, adding hemp to the production chain was a new solution.
