The 23

HydGene Renewables

On-demand renewable hydrogen from bio-waste

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Founders

Louise Brown CEO

Ante Jerkovic Chief Engineer, Analytics and Engineering Team Leader

Kerstin Petroll Chief Technical Officer, Strain Engineer & Fermentation Team Leader

Robert Willows Chief Scientific Officer

Get in Contact

hydgene.com
contactus@hydgene.com

HydGene Renewables are synthetic biologists and engineers who revolutionise the way we produce chemicals – such as hydrogen – a clean fuel that will enable the world to reach a net zero-carbon emissions target.
They have engineered a biocatalyst solution that generates carbon-neutral and high purity hydrogen from renewable biomass such as straw and sugarcane. Being different to other hydrogen technologies, they produce hydrogen on-site and on-demand and eliminate the significant challenges for hydrogen storage and transport. They are cost-competitive with fossil fuel derived hydrogen and support the decarbonisation of major existing hydrogen industries including the farming, chemical, manufacturing and transportation sectors.

What does success look like to you?

Success to us is showing how we can engineer new solutions using biology to help decarbonise the planet and create new value from waste in a sustainable and safe way.

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Louise Brown

Founder & CEO, HydGene Renewables

Louise Brown is the CEO and Co-founder of HydGene Renewables. She has a PhD in biophysics and more than 15 years’ experience in bioengineering and characterisation of complex protein systems while at Macquarie University. Under the guidance of Co-founder Professor Robert Willows, the technology was first developed by Macquarie University undergraduates who successfully showed that bacteria can be re-engineered to produce hydrogen. With Co-founders Dr Kerstin Petroll and Dr Ante Jerkovic, the team raised further funding from ARENA to improve hydrogen production efficiency, and a BRII government grant support in 2021 to apply the technology for converting farm-waste into hydrogen.
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What (and whose) problem is your company trying to solve?

Achieving global net-zero targets requires industries to decarbonise. Hydrogen will play a key role if low-cost clean hydrogen can be produced at scale. While cheap green hydrogen is on the horizon, it then must be moved and stored, often adding up to 80% or more to the final cost for the end-user! Our low cost and safe solution to this challenge is to produce clean hydrogen on-site and only when it’s needed.

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