SoCalGas and ClearSign Collaboration Awarded U.S. Department of Energy Grant to Scale-Up Ultra-Low-NOx Hydrogen-Powered Industrial Burner Prototype

DOE program awarded $126 million in grants to 106 projects to pursue clean energy research and development

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A project on which Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and Tulsa-Based ClearSign Technologies Corporation are collaborating has been awarded more than $1.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to scale-up an ultra-low-NOx hydrogen-powered industrial burner prototype, and introduce this technology to industries in Southern California.

A worker installs an ultra-low-NOx hydrogen-powered industrial burner prototype for use in high-heat processes.

This preliminary award was part of $126 million awarded to 106 projects the Department of Energy announced to help small businesses like ClearSign address multiple mission areas across the DOE, including clean energy and decarbonization, cybersecurity and grid reliability, fusion energy, and nuclear nonproliferation. SoCalGas will be providing an additional $500,000 to help fund the project and to field demonstrate the technology in Southern California. The burner is designed to operate on up to 100% hydrogen and to help decarbonize hard-to-electrify, high-heat industrial processes.

"This exciting and innovative project offers a look at how hydrogen can play a vital role in helping industries in California start down the path to net zero through technology that allows the transition to clean fuels," said Neil Navin, SoCalGas Chief Clean Fuels Officer. "Investments in clean fuel technologies like this will be key in providing hard-to-decarbonize industries the means to reach net zero quickly and affordably."

"We are extremely pleased to receive this support from the forward-looking team at SoCalGas. Our collaboration with SoCalGas provides not just additional financial support, but also their engagement with us in moving the energy transition forward in California, and making our ClearSign Core technologies part of the technical portfolio available to all the industries that SoCalGas serves" said Jim Deller, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of ClearSign.

"Big ideas become realities in the labs, workshops, factories, and plants of America's small businesses," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, in announcing the $126 million in grants. "Small businesses tackle monumental issues all over the country, including climate change. DOE's small business grants help companies across the country to develop the technologies, products, and infrastructure we will need for the transition to clean energy."

The ClearSign project set out to build a process burner, which provides high heat in a number of industrial uses. It can run on natural gas, natural gas blended with hydrogen or pure hydrogen, and cuts down on NOx emissions from combustion.

>> Additional Reading: ClearSign Technologies Corporation Awarded Phase 2 Grant from Department of Energy to Commercialize a Flexible Hydrogen Fueled Ultra Low NOx Process Burner

Phase One of the collaboration has already seen the completion and deployment of a prototype process burner that successfully integrated hydrogen and hydrogen blends while maintaining ultra-low NOx output. Phase Two, which will occur over the next two years, will entail scaling up the size of the burner to four times its prototype size and deploying it in real-world industrial settings where high heat is required.

SoCalGas has made clean energy innovations designed to decarbonize hard-to-electrify sectors a key component of its efforts to help California achieve net zero by 2045. To that end, SoCalGas is working to develop Angeles Link, a proposed green hydrogen pipeline system to serve Southern and Central California. The project, which could be the nation's largest green hydrogen pipeline system, could help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electric generation, industrial processes, and other hard-to-electrify sectors of the California economy.

SoCalGas is also working to help the state of California develop a hydrogen blending standard through pilot projects, to help better understand how clean fuels like renewable hydrogen could be delivered at scale through California's existing natural gas system.

For more information about SoCalGas' hydrogen innovation, visit http://socalgas.com/hydrogen.

About SoCalGas

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to over 21 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.

SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.

For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.