RENEWABLE ENERGY
Electrolysis currently requires an excessive amount of electricity
process, ultimately inflating the final price of the fuel. Electrolysis, the process of running
an electric current through clean, distilled water to separate the hydrogen from oxygen, does not produce byproducts other than hydrogen and oxygen. However, it currently requires an excessive amount of electricity. In fact, according to some studies the process requires about 54 kilowatt hours of electricity (input) to produce just one kilogram of hydrogen – resulting in 33 kilowatt hours of electricity (output).
KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD In an effort to move hydrogen forward, MIT recently innovated a clever solution to produce hydrogen with a recipe that essentially consisted of soda cans, seawater, and caffeine. Documented in a paper published
in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, researchers dropped aluminum pellets, which had been pretreated with a rare-metal alloy, into filtered seawater. The process released hydrogen but at a very slow pace. By adding caffeine, the team was able to significantly speed up the process. “This is very interesting for maritime
applications like boats or underwater vehicles because you wouldn’t have to
carry around seawater — it’s readily available,” said Aly Kombargi, a PhD student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. The team from MIT is working to
develop a small reactor that could operate on a marine vessel. This would also alleviate many of the issues with storing and transporting hydrogen. “We don’t have to carry a tank of
hydrogen,” adds Kombargi. “Instead, we would transport aluminium as the ‘fuel,’ and just add water to produce the hydrogen we need.” While the advancement is noteworthy,
a major drawback is that it uses a rare and expensive metal alloy made from gallium and indium.
BUNDLE OF ENERGY MIT is not the only one innovating with aluminium. Thermodynamics and heat transfer specialist David Sattler and his colleague Robert Fullop have been looking to capture the power of low-cost green hydrogen. Recently, the pair were able to demonstrate a new process that utilises only aluminum, water, and a reusable catalyst. When mixed using pure aluminum,
the three ingredients immediately start a chemical reaction that produces four commercially desirable byproducts: 99.9% pure hydrogen, oxygen, heavy water – which can be used for
fertilizer production, and alumina. The company’s thermochemical green
hydrogen process can also produce fuel when using recycled aluminum. The result is an output of 60% hydrogen. Neither of the clean and recycled processes require electricity and both can utilise purified water as well as water sourced directly from oceans, rivers, lakes or grey wastewater to produce hydrogen.
ENERGISING EARTH If the cost of green hydrogen can be significantly reined in using the methods described or something similar, the element’s impact could be felt immediately. It might be put to use in co-fired coal power generation plants or within today’s internal combustion engines (ICE). With the Infrastructure Act of 2021, the US Congress appropriated $8 billion to support hydrogen projects, signaling a commitment to a hydrogen-powered future and its intention to lead the world in the transition. The challenge now is to improve hydrogen processing techniques to drive down costs.
For more information visit:
www.hytec.mit.edu/
www.engineerlive.com 47
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