Leadership is no new feat for Boyd, a founding member of the UC Berkeley Hyperloop Team, a student organization inspired by Elon Musk’s vision for high-speed public transportation. Boyd was also an active participant in Robert Ritchie’s Lab, Berkeley Cru, Greek Life, and more. “Berkeley made me really appreciate seeing things from a variety of different perspectives,” said Boyd, a sentiment he credits for his exceptional entrepreneurship and communication skills.

While pursuing his materials science doctorate at Stanford, Boyd met a classmate who shared his ingenuity, Kevin Bush. The two were concerned about the emissions from hydrogen production and use, something that many global industries rely on, and they began to craft a solution. Collectively, their potential consumers would account for 900 million tons of global CO2 emissions. These emissions come from a large variety of industries that use hydrogen in their individual production processes, breaking up the market into a variety of prospective buyers. One such industry is ammonia production, which emits a whopping 450 million tons of carbon dioxide. 

Without ammonia, the modern world would not only fail to function, it would fail to be fed. This is because ammonia is a key ingredient in fertilizers that nearly half of Earth’s population depends on. It’s synthesized with the Haber-Bosch process, which combines nitrogen from the air and hydrogen derived using fossil fuels. The process accounts for most of the worldwide ammonia production, but there’s one major problem: it’s dirty. “It emits ten tons of CO2 for every ton of hydrogen in the current steam methane reforming process,” said Boyd. 

Boyd and Bush began building a prototype capable of producing hydrogen in a greener way. Just after graduation, the two took to Bush’s garage to construct a 1200°C reactor that could turn methane into hydrogen and graphite. And so, just as Google and Nirvana came to be, Molten Industries was born in a garage of a couple of daring twenty-somethings. Today, the company remains focused on taking down the fossil-fuel-dependent hydrogen step that industries such as fertilizer are so dependent on. “What we’re doing at Molten is completely decarbonizing the hydrogen value chain,” said Boyd. Molten stands out with its unique take on methane pyrolysis technology, a series of reactions that uses clean energy to produce carbon neutral hydrogen without the carbon dioxide byproduct. 

As Molten Industries grew, it was clear that it had the potential to make an even wider impact. “Our process uses renewable electricity to power the process and makes solid graphite,” said Boyd, “a valuable byproduct that we can then sell to other industries to make things like lithium-ion batteries.” Well-established industries and plants often need a monetary incentive to change fundamental processes such as hydrogen sourcing, because of the value of Molten's graphite byproduct, they can offer them just that. This circular system allows Molten's clean hydrogen to be cost-competitive.

“If you can tell them, ‘Hey, this is not only going to save you money, and allow you to hire more people and grow your business, but it's also really, really good for the environment,’ then that's kind of a win-win-win scenario,” said Boyd. Their low-cost clean hydrogen also opens the doors for Molten to sell their products to a larger variety of industries such as steel, where hydrogen would replace the fossil-fuel-dependent step of reducing iron ore to iron.

Although the magnitude of Molten's mission is daunting, the company has numerous avenues of support from government policies. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act awards credits for the production of clean hydrogen, which Molten can take advantage of. The act also includes electric vehicle tax credits with a requirement that certain car parts be manufactured and sourced in North America. The graphite that Molten produces can be used in electric car manufacturing through components such as lithium-ion batteries. And not only are Molten’s products made in North America, they’re made right here in the Bay Area. 

Molten’s pilot has been up and running in West Oakland since January, and they’re already planning to build a full-scale commercial plant nearby. For Boyd, he’s just a few miles away from the university where he started out, with a couple more accolades to his name. A Forbes 30 Under 30 and a Breakthrough Energy Fellow, Boyd continues to advocate for the adoption of their technology around the globe.

Today, CO2 levels are over 50% higher than the pre-Industrial Revolution era and are far from the net-zero path — a path that cuts net greenhouse gas emissions down to zero. This is causing a detrimental rise in Earth’s temperature, and carbon dioxide alone is responsible for about two-thirds of this heating. Bringing down greenhouse gas emissions is crucial to slowing the current climate crisis, which is why companies like Molten are more necessary than ever. Innovators like Boyd will be vital in finding breakthrough solutions to global issues such as climate change, but they can’t do it alone. Molten's pilot is producing 150 kg of graphite and 50 kg of hydrogen every day, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. If people, policy, and education continue to support green technology like Molten’s, a net-zero future may become more possible. Looking forward, there’s a lot more work to be done, but looking back, Boyd can safely say he’s a long way from that Palo Alto garage.