Empire Diversified Energy and Heartland Water Technology announced a new partnership with Empire Green Generation to develop a state-of-the-art facility that will convert food waste into renewable hydrogen and carbon as part of the Department of Energy's Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARC H2). The partnership between Heartland and Empire represents a significant step forward in converting waste into sustainable hydrogen production. The project incorporates several essential technical steps into a cohesive, unified process.

First, food waste is treated in an anaerobic digester, producing biogas and residual solid material (digestate). Heartland's proprietary HelioStorm? ultra-high temperature ionic gasifier performs methane pyrolysis of the biogas to produce clean hydrogen and valuable sustainable carbon.

The digestate is processed through Heartland's proprietary 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 described, and reducing reliance on the grid and fossil fuels. The food waste to energy project is expected to begin operations in Third Quarter 2025.