W2H2 reactor – a Gdańsk Tech invention wins the Polish Product of the Future Competition | Gdańsk University of Technology

A reactor and a method for pyrolysis of industrial or municipal waste and for reducing and purifying pyrolysis gas from heavy hydrocarbons and carbon particles, developed by prof. Bogusław Kusz and Bartosz Trawiński, PhD, Eng. from the Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, founders of the W2H2 company, received the main prize and the title of Polish Product of the Future in the category "Common Product of the Future of higher education and science institutions and entrepreneurs”, as well as a special award of the Minister of Education and Science.

Organized by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) and the National Center for Research and Development (NCBiR), the Polish Product of the Future competition aims to promote the most innovative products that have the potential to achieve market success in Poland and abroad, and can also improve the quality of life. The winners are selected by a jury consisting of representatives of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, the Ministry of Development and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland, the Polish Development Fund, the Chief Technical Organization, the Industrial Development Agency , PARP, NCBiR, as well as the Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Warsaw.

The awards gala took place on 20 April 20 at the Warsaw University of Technology. The award was received by Prof. Bogusław Kusz, Wojciech Białecki, president of W2H2 and Łukasz Łupina (W2H2).

The pyrolysis reactor is a reactor in which complex hydrocarbon materials break down in the anaerobic process of heating the raw material at high temperatures into simple elements and compounds. As a result of waste pyrolysis, according to the technology developed at Gdańsk Tech, syngas is produced, i.e. a gas containing, among others, methane, carbon monoxide and a very large amount of hydrogen. Next, the syngas is separated, resulting in one of the most desirable sources of green energy, i.e. pure hydrogen. The effect of the process is also char containing 60-80 percent of clean coal, which can be used for heating purposes or in many other technological processes.

– In Poland, we "produce" millions of tons of waste that cannot be reused. Our original technology allows for a very effective and cheap recovery of energy contained in hydrocarbon waste. Thanks to the innovative design, complex hydrocarbons are reduced to basic elements and simple compounds already in the reactor. As a result, without the need to use many costly filters, with the highest efficiency, we obtain pure syngas from the reactor with the following composition: up to 50 percent hydrogen, approximately 25 percent carbon monoxide, approximately 15 percent methane and about 10 percent carbon dioxide - explains Professor Bogusław Kusz, co-founder - together with Bartosz Trawiński – of the W2H2 company, which acquired the rights to commercial use and development of the technology under a license agreement.

The technology developed by the Gdańsk Tech research team is characterized by great care for environmental protection, and at the same time it is a real alternative to obtaining conventional fossil fuels.

- We offer a technology that allows ecological transport and efficient heating to be obtained from unnecessary waste - emphasizes prof. Cush.

The technology has been patented in Poland and submitted for patenting in the international procedure. In the course of work on the development of pyrolysis technology, the authors made three new invention applications.