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HAZER GROUP LTD (HZR) - Hydrogen, Graphite, And A Faster Path To Net Zero

• Andrew Musgrave

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Heavy industry doesn’t need another moonshot. It needs a practical way to swap carbon-heavy hydrogen for a cleaner, cost-competitive alternative that slots into plants already running at scale. That’s where Hazer Group steps in: an iron ore–catalysed process that turns methane into clean hydrogen and high-purity graphite, delivered through a fluidised bed reactor built for industrial realities, not lab-bench hopes.

We sit down with Hazer CEO Glenn Corrie to unpack how the technology works, why lowering operating temperature and energy demand is the real unlock for cost, and how a “climate brick” design plugs into ammonia, methanol, refining, LNG, and even power assets as an over-the-fence hydrogen solution. Glenn breaks down the momentum behind the strategic alliance with KBR, including a 30–50 ktpa process design package on track for early next year and a global go-to-market push that targets KBR’s deep footprint across hundreds of ammonia plants. The goal is simple and bold: replace steam methane reforming’s ten tonnes of CO2 per tonne of hydrogen with a drop-in, cleaner pathway that competes on price.

The story doesn’t end with hydrogen. For every unit of hydrogen produced, Hazer outputs around three and a half units of graphite—now a designated critical mineral in many regions. We explore the strategy to capture value from graphite amid tightening global supply, including partnerships with First Graphene and Mitsui, new IP in Singapore, and progress on purification to battery-grade specs. Add a strengthened cash runway via a non-dilutive R&D refund, reduced burn, and early revenues from paid studies, and the path to 2026 commercialisation sharpens into view.

If you’re tracking decarbonisation of ammonia, methanol, and steel—or you’re weighing the economics of clean hydrogen at industrial scale—this conversation offers a grounded, data-rich view of what’s next. Subscribe, share with a colleague who runs projects or plants, and leave a review with the one question you want us to put to Glenn in the next update.

Andrew Musgrave: 

Welcome again to ASX Breeze. And joining me today is Glenn Corrie, the Chief Executive Officer of Hazer Group Limited. Hazer Group is a climate tech company commercialising its world-leading process to produce clean hydrogen and high-quality graphite from natural gas. With a major global commercialisation alliance, new partnerships to create value from its graphite and a strengthening IP portfolio, the company is advancing its plans to support global decarbonisation. Glenn, great to have you with me again and welcome back to the ASX Briefs podcast.

 

Glenn Corrie: 

Andrew, great to be back over a year.

 

Andrew Musgrave:

Yeah, so it's been quite a while. Plenty have happened with the company, obviously. But for listeners that may be new to the story, can you just provide a quick overview of the company and your disruptive technology?

 

Glenn Corrie: 

Absolutely. So, Hazer actually stands for Hydrogen and Zero Emissions Research. That's the name of the company as an acronym, if you like. It started life about 18 years ago. The vision back then was to effectively create a technology that could make a disruptive impact on global emissions. That was the vision, and that's the reality of where we are today. The tech is very straightforward. Effectively, we convert emissions, methane emissions, which are 25 times more harmful than CO2. We convert those into clean hydrogen or energy and a critical mineral in the form of high purity graphite product stream without the emissions of the process. So, it's a very unique process, it's a breakthrough technology. The X factor of that conversion is that we use an iron ore catalyst. That's a lot of the intellectual property that we hold on the technology, and that does one principal thing for us. It dramatically lowers the energy and the operating temperature of that conversion from gas into hydrogen and graphite. So, it's a very unique, as I said, very competitive technology. And when you lower that energy, you create a low-cost technology, which is really important for climate techs in terms of the techno economics. The other X factor that we like to talk about is the use of a very scalable reactor. In our plants, we use a fluidized bed reactor, it's a very technical term. But the takeaway there is that effectively it's a technology or a reactor that's been adopted from the refining and the metallurgical processes that have been around for over 100 years, and that enables us to get to a very large scale, which is required to meet the demand, not just for our technology, but industry that requires that solution. The hydrogen markets are massive, and they require a large volume capacity of hydrogen. So, kind of it fits us in a very nice place, low cost, scalable, and ready technology today to disrupt that industry.

 

Andrew Musgrave: 

Now, your strategic alliance with KBR, a world leader in ammonia technology, appears to be gaining significant momentum. So, can you elaborate on the progress made since signing the binding agreement, particularly regarding the process design package and the global marketing campaign?

 

Glenn Corrie: 

I can indeed. It’s a partnership we’re very very excited about. If investors and observers of the company wing the clock back to November of last year, we successfully completed the test program of our commercial demonstration unit. That was the fifth scale up of our technology of what we call TRL7, ready for market. That program finished in November 24. In May of 2025, only four to five months after that successful test program completed, we joined forces with KBR, Kellogg, Brown, and Root. Most people will know that are in the sort of engineering space that they are one of the world's largest engineering firms out there. And the reason why they're very powerful to Hazer is because they have both a sort of a you know two-pronged approach to engineering. And that is they've got an engineering service arm, but they've also got a technology accelerator arm. And the combination of that is extremely powerful for an earlier stage technology that requires the scale up to get to large industrial scales on a cost-effective basis, and that's the powerful recipe that KBR brings to it to our strategy. So that deal was signed in May of this year. Since then, it's gone extremely well under that deal. We've agreed to effectively secure a certain amount of licenses over the next five years. The work to get to that point is two aspects. It is the design and the development and the scale up of our technology to 30 to 50,000 tons per annum, and it's the go-to-market strategy. Both of those are going very well. The design work, we expect to have our 30 to 50,000 tonne per annum design package  ready for marketing in the first quarter of next year. We're already starting to see some of the big aspects of that and the reactor concept, and a lot of the key equipment has now been selected as of last week. So big milestone achieved there. And on the go-to-market, it's a concurrent process. There's already market engagement going on, very good feedback on our technology. And of course, KBR are world leaders in ammonia and methanol, and this technology fits wonderfully into producing green ammonia, methanol, and beyond that, steel and power and  utilities and uh refining and other sectors. So, a really exciting space. We've made good progress with KBR, a lot more to do, but I think 2026 is shaping up to be you know a very critical year for us.

 

Andrew Musgrave:

Okay, and Hazer is now positioned within KBR's net zero and sustainable future technology portfolio. So, how does the HAZER process complement KBR's existing technologies? And what does it mean to be a bolt-on solution for both new and existing industrial plants?

 

Glenn Corrie:

Very good. So, I like to call it a climate brick. It basically just gets plugged into industrial uh processes that are out there. So, if you can imagine any refinery, any ammonia or methanol plant, any LNG facility, for example, we will effectively plug in and provide hydrogen to that facility or that plant over the fence. And that's a really big aspect of the cost competitiveness of the technology. So, if you think of KBR, as I said, they own today, I think over 50% of the world's ammonia is using KBR's technology. So, they have a market share of over 50%. I think it's 460 ammonia plants, 250 or 60 of those use KBR technology. So, we've got the market leader in the space, at least in ammonia and methanol, and that means that we have access to potentially 260 ammonia facilities for Hazer technology. Today ammonia uses steam methane reforming as the hydrogen process. What steam methane reforming does, Andrew, is it effectively takes gas as a feedstock, the same as Hazer, and it converts gas into hydrogen, but also CO2. And the ratio of those two products is that every ton of hydrogen produced in a steam methane reforming plant is associated with 10 tons of CO2. So, it's a massive issue for industry. 95% of the world's hydrogen is steam methane reformed hydrogen with all of that CO2. So that's a billion tons of CO2, and that's the disruption that we bring to this market on a cost parity basis. Replacing a market today that's used in ammonia, methanol, steel, and refining and petrochems with a clean plug-in replacement technology that can be done at the same cost as the incumbent technology without the CO2. But we have a graphite coproduct, which I'm also happy to talk about. But that's sort of how we fit into their net zero portfolio and they have you know a massive reach that we are tapping into at this stage.

 

Andrew Musgrave:

Okay, and touching on that graphite strategy, you recently signed an MOU with First Graphene to explore high-value applications for your graphite coproduct. So, how does this partnership fit into your broader graphite marketing strategy, especially with graphite now recognized as a critical mineral?

 

Glenn Corrie: 08:42

Yep, graphite, you're spot on. So, graphite critical mineral, at least in many, many developed nations, Australia, the US, lots of big developed nations in Europe. So, the reason it's a critical mineral is because over 80% of today's graphite production and supply is sourced from China. Over 90% of the processed graphite is coming out of China. So, it's a massive supply chain risk for most countries and corporations that use graphite in their processes. Of course, most people know it's the big dominant component of EVs and big parts of the energy transition, so lithium-ion batteries included in all that. So, countries and corporations are running around trying to secure the supply chain. There's been a couple of big supply shocks. The US just recently imposed big tariffs on China's export. China retaliated more recently in terms of restricting supply but also restricting the release of processing and intellectual property around the purification of graphite. So, there's a lot of dynamics in this that are tightening up the graphite market. Every unit of hydrogen that high hazer produces, three and a half units of graphite as a co-product are produced. So, we're actually a very unique technology in that we produce hydrogen, clean hydrogen and graphite, and we can supply markets locally with that critical mineral and not rely on China for that supply chain. So, it's a in that respect, we can be a real enabler for many uh companies and corporations and countries in terms of that securitization of the graphite supply chain on the ground in country. So big competitive advantage for us, and graphite prices are also just going through the roof as well. So, we see Hazer graphite anywhere between $500 a ton and over $1,000 a ton as well. So that adds a big wedge of potential, I guess, revenues, but also earnings as we sort of grow up as well. So, an exciting market, graphite, and it's just getting hotter and tighter. And as our tech develops, I think we're going to be very well positioned in that market.

 

Andrew Musgrave:

Now, Hazer was also awarded a key patent in Singapore for controlling the production of advanced graphite morphologies like carbon nano-onions. So, why is securing this type of intellectual property in a strategic hub like Southeast Asia so important for Hazer's long-term commercial goals?

 

Glenn Corrie: 

Yep, so there was that patent. There was another patent more recently in terms of the purification of our graphite from very high purities up to battery grade purities that are required for EVs and lithium-ion batteries. So, our graphite strategy is becoming very quickly not just a supply side, but also a trading and marketing side, because we have a strategic partnership with Mitsui on graphite, but also, as you've rightly said, tapping into markets for intellectual property and providing very high-end products that are required and used in high-end and high-value applications for graphite. They're not necessarily the largest markets, Andrew, but if you think about our marketing strategy, it's about volumes and price and confidence in terms of getting our product stream away. And if we can tap into both of those markets, then we'll very happily take a blended price that we can think as you know, could easily be north of a thousand dollars a ton. So Southeast Asia, as you rightly identified in Singapore, that provides further strength to our broader intellectual property position on graphite in Asia Pacific as well as in the US. And that is very important. And I sorry, I should have mentioned the First Graphene um deal that we signed. There's also another one uh soon after that, Veolia, again, just put more layers of strength around the validation and the endorsement of Hazers graphite as a potential critical mineral supply source into this market.

 

Andrew Musgrave: 

Okay, and the company has received a significant RD tax refund of over $4 million for FY25, which you've described as non-dilutive funds. So, how does this cash injection support your commercialization strategy and technology scale up?

 

Glenn Corrie: 

Yeah, it just gives us that extended runway through some very, very critical licensing and commercialization milestones that have all got the potential to re-rate the company. We have got, I think, currently around $20 million of what I'd like to call liquidity that includes our cash, that $4.5 million or $4.6 million RD rebate or cash rebate that we received during the month, plus further grant funding which is ahead of us, plus some other pockets of funds that we have, including revenues from Forders BC in Canada. So, when you put all that together, we've got a liquidity pot of $20 million. Our cash burn is right down. So, if you kind of add all that up, then you can see that we have now a very extended runway through some very critical milestones. We're receiving first revenues now. We'd like to see two or three more feasibility and paid studies on the company, and then we get very, very close then to being self-funding. It's never say never, but I feel like we're getting to the point now where we're turning the corner. We spend $130 million on developing this technology. We're starting to reap the benefits and the rewards of that through the revenue streams that we're receiving. And if we can start to get the multiplier effect of that with you know new paid studies which are on the horizon, then you know this could be a very, very valuable business in the short term.

 

Andrew Musgrave: 

Okay, and just looking at things at more of a macro level, the demand for hydrogen in the ammonia and methanol markets alone is currently valued at over 120 billion US dollars, with demand forecast to more than triple by 2050. So, how is Hazer position to capture a share of this enormous growing market?

 

Glenn Corrie: 

Well, that you'd spot on. So, the hydrogen market today is broadly three components. It's ammonia and methanol rightly identified; that's about half the market. The other half, minus a small amount, is refining and petrochems, and then there's a very small wedge of hydrogen used in steelmaking. The big growth markets in hydrogen, as recently released out of some two big think tanks, the IEA, International Energy Agency, and then DNV out of Europe. Both of them see ammonia and methanol as the big growth engines for hydrogen, growing at least three times in the next 25 years, and then steel, and using hydrogen for steel, is set to grow basically 10 times in the next 25 years. So that's how the stack, the hydrogen demand's growing over the next 25 years, ammonia, methanol, steel. How are we positioned? Well, we've got this great partnership and relationship now with KBR, who are market leaders in ammonia and methanol. So, I feel like we've got a very strong pipeline and partnership in in that industry or those industries. And then on steel, steel is where everything in our technology comes together. Hydrogen for DRI, carbon for carbon making for making carbon steel, and iron ore, of course, is our catalyst, is a feedstock in the iron and the steelmaking process. So, all corner points of our technology are very synergistic with steel making, and I feel like we've got a very strong competitive advantage in that space. We've got a lot of deals in the deal pipeline that are related to ammonia, methanol as well as steel, and I think that's just validation of the market that it's ready to sort of pick up a technology like this.

 

Andrew Musgrave:

Okay, now finally, Glenn, with these key partnerships and milestones in place, what is your message to investors regarding the growth potential for Hazer Group over the next few years?

 

Glenn Corrie: 16:44

Well, you can look at it various ways. We spent $130 million on the tech. Our market cap as of yesterday was about $130 million. So, the market's not giving us full credit for what we've done yet, but it I think it will do. Um, every single large-scale project that we do will deliver Hazer somewhere between $80 and $100 million of licensing revenue, or sorry, licensing value, not revenue. So, you can see very quickly only four or five plants here create a platform that could easily be over half a billion dollars. And we see competitors in the space that are valued at over a billion dollars. I feel like we're quite undervalued at this stage relative to where the market is and relative to the work and all of the de-risking that we've done with the technology, Andrew. But I feel like we've also got some big near-term catalysts ahead of us that could easily be re-rates: licenses, paid studies, big partnerships, more strategics, more investors that see the value in this that are prepared to jump on board and support the development of the technology. So, it's an exciting year ahead. 2026 for us is the year of commercialization. The analysts out there easily value the company on a risk basis at over 70 cents a share. On an un-risk basis, it's I think the average analyst's un-risk valuation is over $1.50 or $1.80 somewhere in that region. So, it feels like stars are aligning for us. And yeah, really excited about what next year looks like.

 

Andrew Musgrave: 

Okay, Glenn. Well, it's been great your chat again. So, thanks for your time, and we look forward to the next update from Hazer Group in the upcoming months. 
 
 Glenn Corrie: 

Thanks, Andrew. 
 
 
 That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.