Babcock & Wilcox has signed a teaming agreement with Newpoint Gas to serve as a foundational technology partner, and provide advanced H₂ generation, decarbonization and combustion technologies for the redevelopment of the former U.S. Department of Energy Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site near Piketon, Ohio.

B&W will supply its BrightLoop technology to produce H₂ and isolate CO₂ for storage and will supply a steam generator utilizing the company’s BrightGen H₂ combustion technology to produce clean, near-zero emissions energy. Babcock & Wilcox Construction will provide construction and installation services.

When complete, the $1.51 B h2Trillium Energy and Manufacturing (h2TEAM) complex will operate as an integrated energy decarbonized H₂ and closed loop manufacturing facility, generating clean H₂ and capturing CO₂ for long-term storage or beneficial use.

“We look forward to working with Newpoint and its partners on this innovative and groundbreaking clean energy project,” said Joe Buckler, B&W Senior Vice President of Clean Energy. “B&W is a global leader in the clean energy revolution, and we’re excited to lend our expertise and game-changing technologies to the h2TEAM clean hydrogen and decarbonization project.”

“We appreciate Babcock & Wilcox and the opportunity to develop the h2TEAM project. The addition of B&W builds on the momentum for this project and sets the foundation for visionary industries to continue to come together and bring several hundred clean energy jobs to central Appalachia,” said Wiley Rhodes, CEO of Newpoint Gas. “The reindustrialization of the PORTS facility not only presents an enormous opportunity for industry, but also has a chance to be the single most impactful driver of economic growth and stability for this region in a generation.”

Newpoint launched the ATH2 Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub initiative in March 2022. B&W, Newpoint and other technical partners also intend to pursue an $8 B Department of Energy Hydrogen Hub grant (H2Hubs) to fund the project and additional development.

B&W's flexible BrightLoop technology is part of its ClimateBright suite of clean energy technologies and can accommodate a wide range of usable feedstocks, product outputs and applications. It can convert a wide range of fuels, including natural gas, coal, petcoke, methane, biomass, biogas and other industrial process off-gases and materials, into multiple products. The BrightLoop system is highly scalable with benefits that can be applied to a wide array of industrial processes to produce H₂, syngas, and steam for power, processes and heating.

B&W’s proven and reliable BrightGen H₂ combustion technology produces no CO₂ and has already been supplied to more than 60 industrial water-tube boilers firing H₂ and H₂-blended fuels. BrightGen technology is applicable to new installations or can be retrofit to existing equipment to fire H₂ efficiently and safely.