Empire Diversified Energy and Heartland Water Technology have formed a partnership with Empire Green Generation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Empire, to develop a facility that converts food waste into renewable hydrogen and carbon as part of the Department of Energy’s Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). The partnership was announced in May 2024.

Per the project, food waste is first treated in an anaerobic digester, producing biogas and residual solid material, or digestate. Heartland’s HelioStorm™ ultra-high temperature ionic gasifier performs methane pyrolysis of the biogas to produce clean hydrogen and sustainable carbon. The digestate is processed through Heartland’s LTC Dry™ and HelioStorm™ gasifiers in a parallel pathway to produce an ultra-pure, tar-free synthesis gas. This gas is then used to generate clean energy, powering the entire conversion system.

The food waste to energy project is expected to begin operations in Q3 2025.