About the Project

Hydrogen is a promising solution for some of the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors of the economy. This includes large industrial processes, such as steel or chemicals production, as well as off-grid applications that require a deliverable source of power, such as remote construction equipment. While low-cost clean hydrogen is becoming increasingly available, transporting the hydrogen from where it is produced to where it is used is still too expensive.

Hydrogen is currently stored and transported in two ways: as a compressed gas or a liquid. As a compressed gas, hydrogen is low in density, limiting the amount of hydrogen that can be delivered by each tube trailer. While liquid hydrogen is much higher density, it is expensive to liquefy. This introduces a trade-off: compressed hydrogen is low-cost to densify but is low-density, while liquid hydrogen is high-cost to densify but is high-density.

Verne is breaking this cost vs. density trade-off, building hydrogen storage technology that is high-density and low-cost. Verne stores hydrogen in a cryo-compressed state at moderate pressure and cryogenic temperature. This achieves the maximum hydrogen density, even higher density vs. liquid hydrogen. The ultra-high density enables distribution trailers to store more hydrogen, minimizing delivery cost. Verne also builds the equipment to cool and compress hydrogen to reach the high-density state. This cryo-compression process is much more efficient relative to liquefaction, saving densification cost.

Verne’s first market is hydrogen distribution. Applying Verne’s cryo-compressed hydrogen technology platform has the potential to reduce hydrogen distribution cost by 40%, unlocking several critical applications for clean hydrogen.