Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has announced an investment in Monolith Materials, which built a carbon black plant near Hallam that started operating this past summer.
Monolith Materials, the company that has built a carbon black plant near Hallam, has announced an investment from one of Japan's largest industrial companies.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries made an undisclosed investment in Monolith Materials to help it further develop its clean hydrogen production capabilities at its plant near Hallam.
A multinational company that makes everything from submarines to air conditioners, Mitsubishi announced the investment during a call with financial analysts Monday morning in Japan.
Monolith Materials, which was founded in 2012, developed a process that converts natural gas into clean hydrogen and a solid carbon material called carbon black, a powdery substance that's used in tires, inks, plastics and other products.
It built a plant just south of Nebraska Public Power District's Sheldon Station near Hallam that became operational this past summer and has the capacity to produce 14,000 metric tons of carbon black annually.
As part of a second phase, Monolith plans to build a larger plant that will produce 275,000 metric tons of carbon black as well as a plant that will produce anhydrous ammonia using the hydrogen generated by the carbon black process, which currently is being vented into the atmosphere.
Monolith officials could not be reached for comment, but officials from both companies said the investment, the size of which was not disclosed, will be used to support development of its hydrogen production capabilities.
In a news release, Yoshihiro Shiraiwa, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, said Monolith "has emerged as a leader in the manufacture of emissions-free hydrogen."
"While we're evaluating a number of clean-energy development options, Monolith offers great promise," he said. "We're excited to be the first in a new wave of strategic investors supporting the development of their technology."
"This relationship will be a model for evaluating future investment opportunities to make emissions-free hydrogen the standard around the world, said Rob Hanson, co-founder and CEO of Monolith Materials.
Hanson told the Journal Star in October that the second phase of Monolith's Hallam plant will cost about $1 billion and the company hopes to have it up and running by sometime in 2024.
PHOTOFILES: SHELDON STATION
PhotoFiles: Sheldon Station
There's a lot of buzz surrounding the Sheldon Station generating plant near Hallam and the announcement of a new partnership with Monolith Materials Inc. that will make Sheldon the nation's first hydrogen-burning power plant. But Sheldon's made history before, as Nebraska's first nuclear power plant, before it was decommissioned almost immediately and converted to burn coal.
Sheldon Station near Hallam was built in the early 1960s as Nebraska's first nuclear power plant. It was decommissioned in 1966, soon after it was completed, when the reactor began leaking radioactive liquid sodium.
Consumers Public Power superintendent W.P. Venable breaks ground for Sheldon Station in 1958.
An aerial view of Sheldon Station under construction in 1960. It would be two more years before the state's first nuclear reactor was switched on. It would be only six more years until it was turned off for good.
Nuclear reactor vessels were eventually placed in the gaping holes of Sheldon Station's interior, shown under construction in 1960.
A workman inspects a 33-foot deep, 19-foot-wide reactor liner that weighed 50 tons in 1961. The liner would eventually house Nebraska's first nuclear power generator.
Workers remotely load the radioactive fuel into the completed reactors at Sheldon Station in 1962. The station was switched on soon after.
A workman admires what he has built, Sheldon Station, in 1962.
This photo shows the Sheldon Station nuclear reactor on a working day in 1963.
A ladder sits atop the decommissioned nuclear reactor at Sheldon Station before being buried in 1966. The reactor was shut down and shuttered after leaks of radioactive liquid sodium, a coolant, were found.
Personnel carefully prepare a nuclear fuel rod for shipment in a steel case after Sheldon Station's nuclear reactor was decommissioned in 1966.
All that remains of Sheldon Station's history as Nebraska's first nuclear power plant is a concrete bunker completely encasing the old reactor. Photo from 1988.
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