Levidian and United Utilities will be working together to turn sewage biogas produced in Manchester into a sustainable feed source for graphene and hydrogen production.
The Government-funded collaboration is a first for the UK water industry and will see Levidian’s LOOP technology used to decarbonize biogas created within the wastewater treatment process. As well as producing hydrogen, the technology will also produce graphene.
The LOOP100 system, developed by Cambridge climate tech company Levidian, will be installed at United Utilities’ Manchester Bioresources Centre at Davyhulme and used to decarbonize biogas produced at the facility. This trial follows a successful feasibility study and will serve as the first demonstration of a LOOP100. The project has been awarded £3 million of funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero Hydrogen BECCS Innovation Competition and will aim to deliver more than 1,000 hours of in-situ testing, verifying the production of separated hydrogen and graphene.
As part of the project, Liverpool John Moores University will assess the potential usage of hydrogen within the Liverpool City Region and Jacobs will provide expertise in carbon lifecycle assessment, social value analysis, and commercialization. Applications of the graphene produced by the LOOP will be developed jointly by Levidian and United Utilities with a focus on reducing the carbon footprint of concrete used within United Utilities’ capital program.
While the demonstrator LOOP100 will be capable of processing around 15m3 of biogas per hour, this demonstration is intended to be a stepping stone toward larger installations, enabling United Utilities to sustainably produce hydrogen from biogas.