Levidian production chief Ian Hopkins on hydrogen, heating & hiring

Our Chief Production Officer Ian Hopkins sits down to discuss his career in the energy industry,?exciting projects at Levidian, and the future of hydrogen and graphene.

1.?You joined Levidian as a Chief Production Officer in February this year. Sounds like a big job! What does a typical day at Levidian HQ look like?

It’s an interesting and challenging role because it encompasses all our engineering and operational activities. We are principally producing two things: graphene, in our production facility, and our modular LOOP product, which enables graphene and hydrogen production at our customer locations. We have production operations activity that is very diverse, including the build out and operation of our R&D facilities for the scaling of our technology.

A typical day usually consists of near-term planning activities and strategic adjustments to the mid-range plan. We’ve also been growing rapidly so a lot of interviewing has been happening! We have a superb team, and I see my role as setting the direction for that team and trying to facilitate their ability to deliver the best they possibly can in a safe and rewarding environment.

2.?You’ve worked in the energy industry for over 20 years, how has the sector changed during that time?

I joined the industry in 1997, initially working on projects to replace coal heating systems with natural gas. Until recently, the energy industry has been encouraging commercial and industrial energy users to burn gas to generate their own electricity and heat in an efficient way, a technology known as “combined heat and power” (CHP). Much of my career has been centred around the various forms of this technology.

CHP was delivering very significant carbon reduction to end users because of the grid carbon factor it was displacing. Around three years ago, we reached a point where the grid had become much cleaner due to the increased proportion of renewable energy technologies. That’s the biggest change in the sector; the speed of growth in renewables has been remarkable and we’re seeing huge acceleration in the uptake of wind and solar.

3. How can Levidian help companies meet their emissions targets?

There are many energy users committed to gas burning that may not have an easy route to decarbonisation via green electricity. Many heat-intensive industries need a flame and need to combust a fuel – this is where hydrogen comes in. Levidian can convert natural gas into hydrogen and capture the carbon in the form of graphene. We can help gas users to pursue a net zero carbon position for their heat use whilst simultaneously offering a carbon product. Graphene can then be used to enhance products and make them more sustainable.

4.?What advice would you give to someone looking to join a climate tech firm like Levidian?

Adopt an environmentally centred attitude and think deeply about what you want to be doing. The career options in this industry are hugely diverse and the growth over the coming years will need to be significant if we are to succeed in delivering on our environmental aims. Once you know where you want to focus, make an impression and get on board.?

5.?Can you tell us about some of the interesting projects you’re working on at the moment?

I’m personally fascinated by the potential of hydrogen as transportation fuel across all sectors. One of the problems is that hydrogen is quite difficult to transport and store, and it takes a lot of energy to compress it. At Levidian we’re trying to re-write the way this is being thought about.

We’re making hydrogen from methane and can produce it at a small scale at local refuelling locations, almost making it “on demand”. This means no huge changes are needed to gas infrastructure and the complexities of hydrogen transportation and storage are largely eliminated. As you can imagine, there are still system complexities to overcome, but working with a team to design a solution for this is a great activity.

The other interesting thing for me is the intersection between process energy use and the potential to use graphene. We’ve been looking at a project recently where our system could be deploying graphene directly into the batch raw material process that feeds a tyre plant, while at the same time powering and heating the plant with green hydrogen to help them achieve net zero. This kind of project combines many aspects of engineering, all of which have a huge environmental impetus.

6.?Graphene is the strongest and thinnest material ever discovered and has a whole host of applications from making super-efficient batteries to more sustainable concrete. But despite its potential the material hasn’t yet achieved mainstream adoption. Where do you think graphene could make the biggest difference??

I think the list of where graphene can’t be used is much shorter than the list of where it can be used! I’d like to see a breakthrough in electronics, as well as in critical environmental technologies such as solar panels and batteries.

Interestingly as we explore the evolution of graphene uptake more deeply, it does seem to become apparent that two big factors have affected the speed of adoption. Firstly, the ability to deliver the product at the right scale over the long term. And secondly, the consistency of quality that is required.

We can solve both by making graphene from methane. It gives very consistent quality and the scale of production, in theory at least, is equal to the sum of all the world’s natural gas consumption plus all other methane sources such as landfill gas or anaerobic digestion. We can make enough graphene to ensure it is very competitively available to the benefit of multiple products. These benefits almost always have a significant environmental bias. Generally, graphene makes things last longer or perform better (or both). This translates to less consumption of raw materials and less energy to produce everyday items – all contributing to a less energy intensive world.