Babcock & Wilcox Signs Exclusive Global Licensing Agreement with Ohio State Innovation Foundation for Innovative Chemical Looping Technology for Decarbonization and Hydrogen Production, Further Enhancing B&W’s BrightLoop Offering

Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) (NYSE:BW) announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Ohio State Innovation Foundation for an exclusive, worldwide commercial license for a chemical looping process and particle used for decarbonization and the production of hydrogen, steam and/or syngas, which complements B&W’s existing technology portfolio.

B&W and The Ohio State University jointly researched, developed and demonstrated the technology, which B&W offers under the BrightLoop name as part of its innovative ClimateBright suite of decarbonization and hydrogen production technologies. B&W and Ohio State researchers have successfully demonstrated production of hydrogen from syngas at the U.S National Carbon Capture Center. The BrightLoop process uses an exceptionally versatile, abundant oxide particle and can be used with many fuels, including natural gas, biogases, petroleum coke, coal, and biogas from municipal solid waste for waste-to-energy and syngas.

“B&W’s BrightLoop process is a game-changing solution for clean energy production with near zero carbon emissions,” said Brandy Johnson, B&W Vice President Global Engineering. “The research conducted by Ohio State and B&W has demonstrated not only the effectiveness of the technology to efficiently separate CO₂ while producing hydrogen, steam and/or syngas but also how it is fully scalable, adaptable and economically feasible for large and small installations.”

The BrightLoop oxide particle, which was developed exclusively by Ohio State researchers, is also economical and can be readily regenerated, which provides extended particle life and lower operating costs in an environmentally friendly way, unlike other chemical looping systems that use copper, nickel, cobalt or other materials which are difficult to source and dispose.

“This license agreement, aimed at the commercialization of this chemical looping technology, represents an extraordinary milestone in my journey which began 30 years ago,” said Liang-Shih Fan, Ohio State Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “The dedicated and long-enduring effort and commitment of my team at Ohio State have overcome various challenges through our multiscale-based fundamental, multifaceted approaches.”

“The key to its success is the Ohio State exclusive development of the patented oxygen carrier and the moving bed reduction platform,” Fan said. “We appreciate the strong partnership with Babcock & Wilcox in the successful earlier demonstrations of two large pilot units to ascertain the scaling effects of the technology for hydrogen and heat generation.”