UK-based climate technology company Levidian is to trial its technology to produce hydrogen and graphene from biogas produced during a wastewater treatment process in Manchester, UK.

The technology, known as LOOP100, will be installed at United Utilities’ Manchester Bioresources Centre at Davyhulme, and operated for at least 1000 hours, processing 15 m³ of biogas per hour. Funding is coming from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero Hydrogen BECCS Innovation Competition, with £3m to be provided.

Liverpool John Moores University will assess the potential usage of produced hydrogen within the Liverpool City Region, while Levidian and United Utilities will investigate the use of graphene, with one focus being its deployment in “reducing the carbon footprint of concrete used within United Utilities’ capital programme,” graphene being stronger than steel, and thinner than paper.

Consultants Jacobs will “provide expertise in carbon lifecycle assessment, social value analysis, and commercialisation”; one imagines that the project would have to demonstrate an overall cost-benefit compared to simply combusting the biogas for power generation.