• Central Coast Industry Connect chair Steven Hyde and CEO of Central Coast Industry Connect Frank Sammut, with Star Scientific's global group chairman Andrew Horvath and deputy chair,  deputy CEO and head of Business Development Matthew Hingerty.

The Central Coast is set to become a food manufacturing hub powered by hydrogen following an MoU between industry group Coast Industry Connect Limited (CICL) and local hydrogen research and development company Star Scientific. (Image source: Star Scientific)
    Central Coast Industry Connect chair Steven Hyde and CEO of Central Coast Industry Connect Frank Sammut, with Star Scientific's global group chairman Andrew Horvath and deputy chair, deputy CEO and head of Business Development Matthew Hingerty. The Central Coast is set to become a food manufacturing hub powered by hydrogen following an MoU between industry group Coast Industry Connect Limited (CICL) and local hydrogen research and development company Star Scientific. (Image source: Star Scientific)
  • The Central Coast is set to become a food manufacturing hub powered by hydrogen following an MoU between industry group Coast Industry Connect Limited (CICL) and local hydrogen research and development company Star Scientific. (Image source: Star Scientific)
    The Central Coast is set to become a food manufacturing hub powered by hydrogen following an MoU between industry group Coast Industry Connect Limited (CICL) and local hydrogen research and development company Star Scientific. (Image source: Star Scientific)
  • ProForm Foods CEO Matt Dunn at the launch of the company's first retail product MEET.
    ProForm Foods CEO Matt Dunn at the launch of the company's first retail product MEET.
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The Central Coast is set to become a food manufacturing hub powered by hydrogen following an MoU between industry group Central Coast Industry Connect and local hydrogen research and development company Star Scientific.

The Central Coast Hydrogen Food Cluster will see Star Scientific’s Hero technology provide the carbon-free heat for food manufacturing.

The region is home to many food and beverage manufacturers, including Mars Food, Sanitarium, Life Health Foods, Proform Foods and ABC Filling.  

Star Scientific will work with food companies to provide carbon-free heat and Central Coast Industry Connect run the cluster and provide the governance structure and platform for collaboration.

CCIT executive director Frank Sammut said it was important for the entire manufacturing sector, not just food and beverage, to be taking steps towards decarbonisation.

“Manufacturers have turned to renewable electricity sources to reduce their carbon footprint but alternatives to gas for heating and cooking continues to be a challenge across a number of uses.

“The MoU with Star Scientific provides the opportunity for developing that alternative carbon free heat source,” Sammut said.

For the global group chair of Star Scientific Andrew Horvath, having the first commercial application of Hero on home soil was particularly exciting.

“Food manufacturers all over the world are looking for solutions to remove carbon from industrial processes such as heating, drying, and cleaning. The Central Coast region is home to some of Australia’s biggest household brands and global food manufacturers, many of whom are realising the potential of hydrogen and our Hero technology to meet their heating needs,” Horvath said.

Proform Foods CEO Matt Dunn
ProForm Foods CEO Matt Dunn
at the launch of retail brand Meet.

ProForm Foods CEO Matt Dunn told Food & Drink Business it was great to see the initiative taking shape.

“As Australians continue to become more focused on their own health and the health of the environment, we’re committed to making the country’s food system more efficient and sustainable,” he said.

For ProForm, that is by making meat alternatives from plants.

ProForm Foods has been based on the Central Coast in Mount Kuring-Gai since the early 2000s. Late last year the company opened an $11 million manufacturing plant to triple its growth in 12 months and launch its retail brand, Meet. http://www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au/news/proform-foods-opens-11m-plant-protein-facility

“Our factory that runs off a 100KW solar system and we are also aiming to use 100 per cent Australian ingredients by 2025, which will further reduce our carbon footprint while supporting Australian agriculture,” Dunn said.

The cluster was designed to be as inclusive as possible, with the longer term goal of working with and sharing knowledge across similar clusters both here and in New Zealand.

Horvath said: “Knowledge and skills sharing with similar clusters emerging around Australia and New Zealand is of paramount importance to increase efficiency around these processes.

“In particular, we want this cluster to be a ‘incubator’ of regulatory issues for the hydrogen supply chain, and more specifically, ‘green’ hydrogen made from renewable energy.”

The New South Wales Government has gazetted the Central Coast as a Renewable Energy Zone. Horvath said its recent “visionary” hydrogen strategy was “the icing on the cake”.

In March, Star Scientific won the Sustainable Energy Council's inaugural World Hydrogen Awards’ Industrial Application category.

Horvath said: “Hero is the missing link in the hydrogen supply chain, turning green hydrogen into continuous industrial heat without combustion. It can be used from the heaviest of industry such as coal-fired power stations, through to scaled down local assets for specific locations such as district heating and desalination.

“Regulators are coming to grips with the use of green hydrogen and we hope the cluster will enable us to identify those issues early in the process and deal with them.”

Work has already commenced under the MoU for industrial-scale cleaning in the food cluster.

Start Scientific global group chair Andrew Horvath recieving the inaugural World Hydrogen Awards’ Industrial Application category:

 

 

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