How the system works,
and why ethanol.
A patented oxidative-reforming process converts ethanol into clean hydrogen and valuable co-products in a non-combustion reaction that avoids the cost, complexity, and emissions of conventional hydrogen delivery.
Ethanol in, clean hydrogen out, via a catalytic reaction with no flame.
Controlled oxidative reforming.
No flameInputs, reaction, outputs.
- Ethanol
- Water
- Oxygen
- Low electricity
1 · PCC catalystPyroCat™, patented
2 · Proprietary reactorAdiabatic, patented
3 · Fully integrated production processPatented
- Hydrogen, fuel-cell grade
- Food-grade biogenic CO₂
- Nitrogen
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Liquid feedstock delivery
Ethanol, an energy-dense hydrogen carrier, is delivered and stored using vast existing U.S. infrastructure.
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Controlled oxidative reforming
Inside PCCH2's reactor, ethanol is converted into a hydrogen-rich stream through catalytic oxidative reforming, featuring the patented PyroCat™ catalyst, validated over thousands of hours of extreme-condition laboratory testing proven to prevent catalyst degradation.
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Separation & conditioning
Water-gas shift reactors convert the remaining carbon monoxide into additional hydrogen, and a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit purifies and conditions the stream to meet the specification each application requires.
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Co-product capture
Pure biogenic CO₂, nitrogen, and water are captured for reuse, enabling a low carbon index (negative if process biogenic CO₂ is sequestered).
We don't burn ethanol. We reform it.
Our process converts ethanol into hydrogen through oxidative reforming, a chemical reaction inside a non-combustion reactor using PCC's patented catalyst.
A liquid that already travels at scale.
Rail · truck · terminalWe don’t move hydrogen. We move the carrier.
Ethanol is a stable, locally produced liquid that already travels at scale, cheaply. Hydrogen doesn’t. So we ship the carrier and convert it on site, capturing pure biogenic CO₂, nitrogen, and water as valuable co-products.Existing infrastructure
Ethanol moves today through established rail, truck, and terminal networks, reducing the need for new hydrogen pipelines or specialized long-haul delivery.
A small footprint on the market
A facility’s ethanol draw is a very small share of the ~16-billion-gallon U.S. market.
On-site conversion
Energy is delivered in liquid form and converted into hydrogen on site, at the point of use: no hydrogen delivery network to build.
Biogenic carbon
Ethanol is made from crops that absorb CO₂ as they grow. The carbon is biogenic, part of the current carbon cycle, not fossil carbon from legacy hydrocarbon sources.
Independent lifecycle analysis
PCC Hydrogen's lifecycle carbon-intensity study, co-authored with the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at the time of publication) and published in the peer-reviewed journal Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining (opens in a new tab) in March 2025, supports a process with low or even negative carbon intensity and no NOx or particulate-matter emissions.
Deeper CI reductions
Carbon intensity starts with the feedstock: low-CI ethanol lowers the hydrogen’s CI further. Adding carbon capture pushes CI below key thresholds, while the remaining pure biogenic CO₂ is sold into food & beverage and e-fuel markets rather than emitted.
Land use, in context
PCC draws on ethanol already produced at scale, roughly 16 billion gallons a year in the U.S. alone. A facility’s draw is a rounding error on that market: existing ethanol redirected to a higher-value clean-energy use, not new production.
Fossil CO₂ substitution
In markets like the U.K., biogenic CO₂ from the process can directly substitute fossil-derived CO₂ in industrial supply chains, an additional decarbonization benefit beyond the hydrogen itself and a valuable revenue stream.
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