Hardware Podcasts

Solving the Hydrogen Storage and Transport Challenge with Natasha Kostenuk, Founder and CEO of Ayrton Energy

Hardware to Save a Planet · 4 Jul 2024 · 37m · Episode 56

What this episode covers

Natasha Kostenuk, Founder and CEO of Ayrton Energy, explains how her company solves the hydrogen storage and transport challenge using Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs). She details the technical limitations of compressed and liquefied hydrogen, the electrochemical reactor design that operates at low temperatures, and the business model targeting data centers and industrial decarbonization. Kostenuk also discusses her transition from a 19-year career in oil and gas to founding a climate tech startup, highlighting the importance of team scaling and modular hardware design.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Ayrton Energy, TriCan Well Service, SOSC and Hacks
Products
Tesla

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • How I Built This · 37m

    HIBT Lab! Universal Hydrogen: Paul Eremenko

    Paul Eremenko, co-founder and CEO of Universal Hydrogen, explains his company's strategy to decarbonize aviation by replacing jet fuel with green hydrogen. He details the technical and logistical challenges of hydrogen, including its low energy density compared to batteries and the high cost of infrastructure, proposing a modular capsule system for distribution. Eremenko outlines the roadmap for retrofitting ATR regional aircraft by 2025 and designing new clean-sheet single-aisle aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 for the mid-2030s, leveraging investors such as Airbus, GE, and Fortescue.

    Energy & climate techStarting a product company
    7 chapters

  • Catalyst · 43m

    The early days of transoceanic hydrogen transport

    Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy and former head of Gas Analysis for BP, discusses the economic and technical challenges of transporting hydrogen across oceans. She evaluates five primary transport methods: liquefied hydrogen, e-methane, liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), ammonia, and methanol, highlighting the prohibitive energy costs of liquefaction and the high price of synthetic methane. The conversation also covers the geopolitical implications of hydrogen trade, the potential for repurposing natural gas pipelines, and the strategic decision for exporting nations to produce hydrogen-derived products like steel rather than exporting raw hydrogen.

    Energy & climate techLogistics & fulfilment
    8 chapters

  • How I Built This · 38m

    ICYMI... HIBT Lab! Climeworks: Jan Wurzbacher

    Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder and CEO of Climeworks, explains how his company is building the world's largest direct air capture facility, the Orca plant in Iceland, which removes 4,000 tons of CO2 annually. He details the technology's modular design, using filter materials that capture CO2 and release it when heated, allowing for permanent underground storage in basaltic rock. Wurzbacher discusses the company's journey from selling CO2 to greenhouses and Coca-Cola to securing $650 million in Series 6 funding to scale operations. He argues that while emission reductions are critical, removing 10 billion tons of CO2 yearly by 2050 requires scalable technological solutions like Climeworks, which he compares to the rapid cost reduction seen in solar PV.

    Energy & climate techStarting a product company
    9 chapters

  • Hard Tech Podcast · 27m

    Andrei Klochko: Reversible Heat Pumps, Decarbonization, and Earth vs Mars | Hard Tech Podcast #6

    Andrei Klochko, founder and CEO of Airthium, explains his company's reversible heat pump technology, which converts electricity to heat and vice versa using a modified Ericsson cycle with fast near-isothermal compression. He argues that decarbonizing industrial processes, particularly by replacing natural gas in food and agro-industry steam generation, is critical for fixing Earth rather than focusing on Mars colonization. Klochko discusses the economic drivers of carbon taxes in Europe, the technical advantages of his engine over Stirling cycles, and the need for long-term energy storage solutions like hydrogen in salt caverns to balance intermittent renewable sources.

    Energy & climate techMechanical engineering
    6 chapters

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 20m

    167. How Hydrogen Will Replace Batteries

    Daniel and Forbode discuss research from EPFL on using ammonia as a stable carrier for hydrogen, addressing the storage and transport challenges of pure hydrogen. They highlight a new catalyst developed by an EPFL researcher that reduces cracking costs by 200 times, potentially making hydrogen fuel cells viable for large-scale applications like semi-trucks. The hosts compare energy density and return on energy invested for lithium-ion batteries, liquefied hydrogen, and ammonia, concluding that ammonia offers superior storage efficiency and lower loss rates.

    Energy & climate techMaterials & manufacturing processes
    5 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Hardware to Save a Planet. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.