DeepSummary
This episode features an interview with Rob Hansen, the co-founder and CEO of Monolith, a company that develops a cleaner way to produce hydrogen and carbon black materials through a process called methane pyrolysis. The interview covers Hansen's journey to founding Monolith, the company's pioneering work in scaling up methane pyrolysis for commercial use, and the challenges faced in raising capital and building the first commercial-scale plant.
A significant portion of the interview focuses on Monolith's recent achievement of securing a $1 billion conditional loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office. This loan will allow Monolith to expand its Olive Creek plant in Nebraska and construct multiple commercial-scale units for producing clean hydrogen and carbon black at an industrial level.
The episode also touches on the broader potential of clean hydrogen in decarbonizing heavy industries like steel and chemicals production. Hansen shares his vision for Monolith's role in shaping the future of clean hydrogen production and contributing to the energy transition and climate change mitigation efforts.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Monolith has developed a cleaner method for producing hydrogen and carbon black through a process called methane pyrolysis.
- Monolith has scaled up their methane pyrolysis technology to commercial scale and built the first industrial plant in Olive Creek, Nebraska.
- Monolith has secured a $1 billion conditional loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to further expand their operations and construct multiple commercial-scale units.
- Monolith's technology has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from hydrogen production and enable the decarbonization of heavy industries like steel and chemicals.
- Monolith's operations have had a positive economic impact on the state of Nebraska, creating new jobs and contributing to the local economy.
- Monolith's journey highlights the challenges faced by climate tech startups in raising capital and scaling up innovative technologies.
- The future of clean hydrogen production is likely to involve a mix of different production methods, with Monolith's methane pyrolysis being one of the promising solutions.
- Rob Hansen, Monolith's co-founder and CEO, has a vision for the company to become a major player in the energy transition and contribute to mitigating climate change.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Not only are we taking the carbon out as this solid product, so it's never ending up as CO2 in the atmosphere, we actually found a way to create value on that solid carbon side. And we make this chemical called carbon black, which is something no one's really heard of but everyone uses every day.“ by Rob Hansen
- “And we've now just built a really big machine to do that at industrial scale, you know, all day, every day. And, I mean, we're just going into it, you know, head first, full force.“ by Rob Hansen
- “I think we could be one of the really important energy transition companies that are dealing with single digit percentage of CO2 emissions. When you think of hydrogen being a gigaton today of CO2 and first cleaning that up, but then also where hydrogen can go, and heavy transportation and steel, steel is like 8% of global CO2.“ by Rob Hansen
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Episode Information
The Big Switch
Dr. Melissa Lott
5/4/22
Hydrogen could be essential for the zero-carbon economy, especially for cleaning up concrete, steel, and chemicals. It’s also a promising fuel source for transportation and electricity that's attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in global investment.
But there’s a problem. Every year, the world produces millions of tons of hydrogen through a dirty process that creates lots of CO2 and carbon monoxide.
For hydrogen to be a truly clean fuel, we have to find a cleaner way to make it. And today we’re bringing you the story of one person who's spent a decade trying to do just that.
It’s an episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Watt It Takes. The show tells the stories of founders who are building our climate-positive future — their upbringings, their risks, their failures, and their breakthroughs.
Today’s episode is with Rob Hanson, co-founder and CEO of Monolith, a clean hydrogen and industrial materials manufacturer that was recently awarded a $1 billion conditional loan guarantee by the Department of Energy. Emily talks to Rob about his journey to founding Monolith, what the DOE loan means for the company, and the future of clean hydrogen.