The first five kilograms of hydrogen are produced from clean energy generated with biogas from wastewater at the Aguas Claras treatment plant.

The Colombian Group Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) presented this Wednesday, February 28, its pilot plant for the production of green hydrogen (H2V) and its mixing station with natural gas, fulfilling its purpose of producing it from clean energy (non-conventional ).

This was a joint work between EPM and Aguas Nacionales de Colombia, from the Aguas Claras Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), located in the municipality of Bello, north of the Aburrá Valley.

“We continue with the implementation of the Organization's Hydrogen Roadmap, based on sustainable development, promoting new growth opportunities and solutions that allow the development of business cases and optimization of infrastructure for hydrogen production, which contribute to decarbonization, to the rational use of resources and to economic development,” said John Maya Salazar, general manager of EPM and leader of the EPM Group.

This pilot project is part of the roadmap, which seeks the development of skills and innovation based on clean and renewable energies, which can be scalable to projects that allow the use of hydrogen at a local and international level.

HOW TO GENERATE GREEN HYDROGEN?

Hydrogen is expected to have multiple uses in the future. For this reason, the project seeks to facilitate the appropriation of technical knowledge in its production, management and different uses in the short term such as:

- Make mixtures ( blending ) with biogas for the production of electricity for industrial use, in the plant's motor-generators.

- Carry out blending tests with natural gas for use in residential gas appliances, in order to distribute cleaner energy to the Aburrá Valley. The tests will allow us to know the behavior of the mixture in the distribution system for its use in the short term.

- Mobility for full-use vehicles (100% hydrogen) or dual use (diesel and hydrogen). Among its achievements, EPM will convert two dump trucks to hydrogen for the service of the Aguas Claras WWTP, so as to improve its efficiency and reduce its emissions to the environment.

Henry Parra Molina, president of Aguas Nacionales, indicated that “the production of hydrogen at the Aguas Claras WWTP facilities will be carried out through the process of electrolysis or decomposition of water (H₂O) into its basic components: hydrogen and oxygen, using the self-generated electrical energy in the same plant, which is obtained through the combustion of biogas in motor generators. This energy is considered clean because it comes from a non-conventional renewable source, in this case biomass.”

Due to its benefits in terms of technological innovation, reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG), circular use of energy resources and the promotion of other alternative sources, this becomes one of the most important bets of the EPM Group, with a view to the Roadmap that has been drawn up for the production of green hydrogen in the medium term.

This strategy is materialized with the collaborative work between EPM and Aguas Nacionales, taking advantage of operational and financial synergies as a business conglomerate to generate value for all its stakeholders.