seeing green

Houston engineering firm tapped as service partner for clean hydrogen production facility

The study is part of First State Hydrogen's plan to provide clean energy to Delaware and the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. Photo via Getty Images

A Houston company has scored an engineering services contract on a clean hydrogen production facility in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region.

KBR announced that it has been awarded the contract by First State Hydrogen, which is building an electrolysis-powered green hydrogen production project. The study is part of First State Hydrogen's plan to provide clean energy to Delaware and the U.S. mid-Atlantic region.

"We are excited to be a part of this important project that will contribute toward a cleaner, more sustainable world," KBR Sustainable Technology Solutions President Jay Ibrahim says in a statement. "This award highlights KBR's extensive and innovative clean hydrogen expertise, in providing solutions that matter, and our strategic commitment to the energy transition."

Houston-headquartered KBR has lead the hydrogen market as a technology and service provider.

"This is an important step for First State Hydrogen as we start laying the groundwork for a clean hydrogen facility that will drive our mission to responsibly and safely advance the clean hydrogen economy and create a more sustainable future," Dora Cheatham, vice president of sales and commercialization at First State Hydrogen, says in the release. "We're excited to have the KBR team with us on this journey."

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A View From HETI

Rice University has established a new center that will work toward meeting the Environmental Protection Agency's strict standards for PFAS. Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

Rice University announced a new research center that will focus on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) called the Rice PFAS Alternatives and Remediation Center (R-PARC).

R-PARC promises to unite industry, policy experts, researchers, and entrepreneurs to “foster collaboration and accelerate the development of innovative solutions to several PFAS challenges,” according to a news release. Challenges include comprehensive PFAS characterization and risk assessment, water treatment infrastructure upgrades, contaminated site remediation, and the safe alternatives development.

“We firmly believe that Rice is exceptionally well-positioned to develop disruptive technologies and innovations to address the global challenges posed by PFAS,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches says in a news release. “We look forward to deepening our relationship with ERDC and working together to address these critical challenges.”

The Environmental Protection Agency issued its stringent standards for some of the most common PFAS, which set the maximum contaminant level at 4.0 parts per trillion for two of them. Pedro Alvarez, Rice’s George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, director of the WaTER Institute, likened this in a news release to “four drops in 1,000 Olympic pools,” and also advocated that the only way to meet these strict standards is through technological innovation.

The center will be housed under Rice’s Water Technologies Entrepreneurship and Research (WaTER) Institute that was launched in January 2024. The WaTER Institute has worked on advancements in clean water technology research and applications established during the decade-long tenure of the Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment, which was funded by the National Science Foundation.

“The challenge of PFAS cuts across several of the four major research trajectories that define Rice’s strategic vision,” Rice’s executive vice president for research and professor of materials science and nanoengineering and physics and astronomy Ramamoorthy Ramesh, adds in the release. “R-PARC will help focus and amplify ongoing work on PFAS remediation at Rice.”

The ERDC delegation was led by agency director David Pittman who also serves as the director of research and development and chief scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ERDC representatives also met with several Rice researchers that were involved in work related to the environment, and sustainability, and toured the labs and facilities.

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