JSW will conduct methane “recycling”. Thanks to the MetH2GEN project, it will produce hydrogen

Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa launched a research and development project of Meth2gen, which aims to simultaneously reduce methane hazards in mines and transform the waste methane into hydrogen – the company said on Wednesday.

The budget of the entire project, which is supported by coordinated by the European Executive Agency for Scientific Research, the funds of the Coal and Steel Research Fund (RFCS) is EUR 25.6 million, of which on the JSW side – over 20 million euros.

As Tomasz Siemieniec from the JSW press office reported on Wednesday, the MetH2gen project assumes the implementation of a modern method of delaying the rock mass using directional drilling, significantly increasing the effectiveness of methane capture in mines, including in the Budryk mine.

Thanks to this, it is possible to achieve the efficiency of deserting operating walls at the level of approx. 70 percent. (Currently, approx. 35-40 percent of methane releasing as mining progress are included in JSW. This, in turn, will translate into greater security, reduction of costs and reduction of methane emissions to the atmosphere.

The second pillar of the METH2GEN project is the construction of hydrogen production installations made of excess methane, which is currently burned or released into the atmosphere. In SMR (Steam Methane Reforming) technology, methane is to be transformed into hydrogen, and carbon dioxide formed is to be captured and used in fire prevention.

– This is a breakthrough solution, because it will allow 100 % use of methane in the unhea stations, which is of great importance in the context of EU methane regulations – emphasized the director of the JSW methane office and methane economy Artur Badylak.

Hydrogen produced in this way is to be much cheaper than hydrogen produced by electrolysis, and the demand for this gas increases in connection with the development of decarbonization technology in Poland and the world.

JSW currently conducts the purchase procedures for the purchase of specialized directional drills and performs wells to determine the location of directional drilling. At the same time, research is underway in terms of determining the place where a hydrogen installation will be created.

The MetH2Gen project is one of the four large projects co -financed by the EU currently implemented by the JSW methane and methane management office. The total budget of these initiatives is over EUR 63.8 million.

The REM project, started on January 1, 2023, applies to the parallel default system in the Pniówek mine. It is about acquiring and economic development of methane releasing in the mine parts, in which mining has already been completed (regardless of current deepening).

The other two – apart from Meth2gen – methane projects with JSW participate: improving the efficiency of uncomfortable systems by automating (under the name Mastermind, co -financed from the Horizon Europa program) and identification of obstacles for the effective implementation of methane use technology (Provam, co -financed with RFCS).

Methane is a greenhouse gas with a potential of 28 times higher than carbon dioxide. Hence, among others The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector announced last year. Knowing this perspective of JSW in 2022, she announced an environmental strategy, whose indirect goal is to reduce the trace of the carbon company by 30 percent. until 2030 (against 2018).

Because 70 percent The JSW carbon trail gives methane, the company implements a plan to increase the efficiency of freezing at least 50 percent in all its plants. and increasing the economic use of recognized methane to at least 95 percent. (PAP)

MTB/ MMU/