Roadrunner Innovator Spotlight: Hydrosonics

Let’s start with the basics, Luis. Tell me about Hydrosonics.

Hydrosonics is an electrolyzer manufacturing company. We are uniquely positioned to produce clean hydrogen that makes economic sense. 

What’s the current state of hydrogen?

Most of it is produced from methods that are too polluting and the clean options are too expensive. Ninety-five percent of hydrogen energy is produced using a carbon-intensive process called Steam Methane Reforming (SMR), where you burn natural gas to produce hydrogen and CO2. The use of hydrogen from SMR completely defeats the purpose of making this energy transition. Even “clean” hydrogen solutions need to be connected to the highly carbon intensive grid all the time. All of this, while we just waste billions of dollars in renewable electricity every year because so much of it is curtailed. 

What do you mean by “curtailed?” 

There’s an interesting paradox in green energy that most people don’t know about. On one hand, we all know the world must decarbonize to meet or beat the 1.5℃ limit set by the Paris Agreement. But renewables alone won’t solve the climate crisis. With more solar and wind power coming into energy grids, systems often have too much renewable energy without adequate demand to use it. So what happens? We lose it. That’s called curtailment. Hydrosonics plugs into the grid and gives that excess — and cheap! — renewable energy a place to go. We’re able to harness that energy to produce clean and  affordable hydrogen.  

Tell me more about the technology and how it works. 

We're building a whole new electrolyzer. We are using proven alkaline technology and making it better and cheaper. What’s common knowledge in this type of electrolyzers is that you can’t turn them off after you’ve turned them on because you need to form the optimal amount of oxides on the surface. You’ll lose the balance if the electrolyzer turns off — or if it runs too “hot”.  We use acoustic energy to excite the electrodes in the machine, making them perform better for longer. Think of our systems as speakers for very high frequencies that allow us to control the chemistry of the electrolyzer, removing any unnecessary “crud” as it is formed on the system. What is even better, we are packaging the whole system into a single solution. All customers will need to do is connect the electrolyzer to their water and electricity source, and we’ll take it from there. 

Right now, hydrogen is mostly produced in large, centralized farms, essentially. Is that right? 

Exactly, and that’s part of why hydrogen is expensive. They are building hydrogen plants where producers can put a huge number of very large electrolyzers very close to each other for economies of scale. The problem is that hydrogen is very expensive to transport, so it’s impossible for people who live far from these hydrogen production centers to benefit. There aren’t many pipelines dedicated to hydrogen, so it’s mostly loaded into trucks and shipped to its endpoint. Our electrolyzers, on the other hand, are small and efficient — deployable closer to the site of consumption to minimize supply chain costs. We’re making sure from the get-go that hydrogen can be produced everywhere. 

Got it. So what are the use cases you’re envisioning? 

The beauty of hydrogen is that it can plug into existing systems where combustion gets used. High-temperature industrial processes are ripe for disruption, and that’s where we’re hoping Hydrosonics can start. For example, hydrogen is a really powerful and clean alternative in making steel or cement, which accounts for 16% of overall global greenhouse gas emissions. You don’t need to change your entire system to make it work with hydrogen. We know how to burn stuff. We’ve been burning things for a long time. With hydrogen, you’re still burning. What’s hard about electrification — to say nothing of the challenges with extracting critical minerals — is that it requires you to overhaul your whole infrastructure. Hydrogen plugs right into what we currently have. 

People have been saying hydrogen is the green energy of the future since the ‘70s. What do you think is different about this moment? 

There are a few things. One is the current fiscal environment that is pushing very hard for hydrogen to happen. In December 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS released guidance on clean hydrogen tax credits, which the IRA created. We’re coming into the market at just the right time, to ensure we comply with what the tax credits require — namely low emissions from end-to-end, including minimizing indirect emissions. At the same time, a lot of companies — and even utility companies — are starting to invest in hydrogen. They’re gearing up for it to happen because, once it does, there’s no going back. Policy, private sector investment, and increasing curtailed energy supply — as well as the obvious need to curb emissions — makes this time different. Hydrosonics is well positioned to seize the opportunity. 

What does the world look like if Hydrosonics succeeds? 

Honestly, it looks very similar to what it looks like today — just cleaner. You are still cooking on your "gas" stove or driving your "gas" car. The only difference is that that "gas" is a different molecule now. It also looks more equitable. The future looks more equitable because the cost of energy is affordable for everyone. 

I hope you’re right. Thanks for the conversation, Luis. It was a pleasure.