LSB Industries Inc. said July 5 that El Dorado Chemical, its wholly-owned subsidiary, has concluded a license agreement with AirGen Corp., a Texas-based start-up company that may have developed a novel method of producing hydrogen. Under the agreement, El Dorado will study the use of the patent pending technology for production of bulk hydrogen. Hydrogen is the primary feedstock material for ammonia production, and ammonia is the feedstock for LSB’s chemical business’s nitrogen-based chemical products, such as nitric acid and nitrogen-based blasting products and fertilizers.
LSB said the technology is in the early, developmental stage and has not been proven by LSB to have commercial value. The agreement contemplates a pilot facility to be constructed within two years, subject to proof of concept.
The license agreement is exclusive within the field of ammonia production from hydrogen produced through the licensed technology. If the technology is successfully implemented at LSB or any affiliate of LSB, the agreement provides exclusive sublicensing rights to LSB within the global ammonia industry, where it is contemplated that LSB and AirGen would cooperate to pursue sublicensing of the technology.
“The technology looks promising, and if proven to be commercially viable, it could have a major impact on the nitrogen fertilizer business by eliminating natural gas as the primary source of hydrogen in the production of ammonia,” said Jack Golsen, LSB chairman and CEO.
“We are pleased to be working with LSB in what we view as a significant event in commercializing our technology for bulk hydrogen applications,” said Dr. Linnard Griffin, inventor of the technology, and AirGen’s chairman and CEO. “We are fully committed to work with the team at LSB to ensure successful testing, development and ultimate implementation of our technology.”
LSB’s principal business activities consist of the manufacture and sale of chemical products for the mining, agricultural, and industrial markets, the provision of specialized engineering services, and the manufacture and sale of commercial and residential climate control products.
AirGen, formed in 2005, is a developer of chemical processes for the production of hydrogen and metal reduction based upon novel chemistry involving the firm’s proprietary catalysts. The company has several patents pending in the U.S. and worldwide.