Raven SR to Build California’s First Waste-to-Hydrogen Facility
Published: November 21, 2025
Raven SR Inc., a renewable fuels company specializing in producing clean hydrogen from waste, has received its final Air Permit and Authority to Construct (ATC) from the Bay Area Air District (BAAD), authorizing construction of California’s first facility to convert diverted organic waste into renewable hydrogen using a non-combustion steam/CO₂ reforming process.
The facility will be located at Republic Services’ closed West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill in Richmond, processing up to 99 wet tons per day of organic waste and producing approximately 2,400 tons of renewable hydrogen annually. The diverted organic waste will help California meet SB1383 diversion mandates and could prevent up to 7,200 tons of CO₂ emissions from the landfill.
Hydrogen will be collected daily by offtake partners and supplied to regional fueling stations serving both passenger and commercial fuel cell vehicles. The hydrogen will not be stored on-site, ensuring immediate utilization while supporting California’s decarbonization and zero-emission transportation goals.
“Receiving the ATC marks a major milestone for Raven SR, the City of Richmond, and the broader hydrogen economy,” said Matt Murdock, CEO of Raven SR. “This facility will commercially demonstrate that waste that would otherwise emit methane can be converted into clean hydrogen without combustion or toxic emissions. We believe it sets a new benchmark for waste-to-hydrogen projects globally.”
Julia Levin, Executive Director of the Bioenergy Association of California, emphasized the environmental benefits: “Raven SR’s Richmond facility is a critical step toward reducing California’s most damaging climate pollutants – methane and black carbon – by turning landfill-bound organic waste into clean hydrogen, providing immediate climate and public-health benefits.”
The permitting process took more than five years, including three and a half years of BAAD review. Raven SR credited BAAD Executive Officer Dr. Philip Fine and Principal Deputy Executive Officer Dr. Meredith Bauer for their decisive leadership in completing the permit process.
With the ATC issued, Raven SR is completing final engineering revisions and preparing building permit packages for submission to the City of Richmond. A groundbreaking is anticipated in early 2026, followed by full construction once financing is finalized.
Project costs are estimated at approximately US$75 million, primarily financed through private equity, leveraging the Inflation Reduction Act 45V credit without federal grants. Strategic investors include Chevron New Energies, ITOCHU, Ascent Funds, Samsung Ventures, and RockCreek.
Raven SR’s technology uses a non-combustion, non-catalytic thermal chemical reductive process that converts organic waste and landfill gas into hydrogen and Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels. The process requires no fresh water, uses less than half the energy of electrolysis, and delivers fuel with low to negative carbon intensity. Its modular design allows scalable local production of renewable hydrogen and synthetic liquid fuels from waste.
