Green Hydrogen For Below $1.50/kg Possible Soon?

• Hysata says electrolyzer technology improvement by the team makes it possible to produce green hydrogen costing less than $1.50 per kg by mid-2022s
• It has developed a new electrolyzer technology with CFE cell that achieves 98% energy efficiency leading to less energy consumption by an electrolyzer
• The process allows for bubble-free electrolysis and does away with unwanted and wasteful shunt currents found in alkaline water electrolyzers
• All of these measures put together help bring down overall renewable electricity required by an electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen, which lowers its capex

By mid-2020s, green hydrogen production below $1.50 per kg should be possible with the Australian University of Wollongong (UOW) claiming to have developed a new electrolyzer technology with a capirally-fed electrolysis (CFE) cell that's now being commercialized by its spin-off Hysata.

The CFE process allows for bubble-free electrolysis which means no gas bubbles are formed and water is directly converted into bulk gases. Further, unwanted and wasteful shunt currents found in conventional alkaline water electrolysers, may also be avoided with the help of small volumes of liquid electrolyte in each cell reservoir. "These simplifications in the balance-of-plant lead to downward pressure on electrolyser capex," states the team.

According to the research work that's been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, the CFE cell can produce green hydrogen from water at 98% cell energy efficiency which is well above the International Renewable Energy Agency's (IRENA) 2050 target, states the team.

Currently, a state-of-the-art commercial water electrolyzer takes around 53 kWh of electricity to produce 1 kg of hydrogen which contains 39.4 kWh of energy. Out of this, the electrolysis cell consumes 47.5 kWh of electricity. The researchers say IRENA has set a target to reduce cell energy consumption to below 42 kWh per kg by 2050 which will contribute to decreasing the levelized cost of produced hydrogen.

The project partners claim an alkaline CFE cell 'demonstrates water electrolysis performance exceeding commercial electrolysis cells, with a cell voltage at 0.5 A cm⁻² and 85 °C of only 1.51 V, equating to 98% energy efficiency, with an energy consumption of 40.4 kWh/kg hydrogen'.

"Our electrolyzer will deliver the world's lowest hydrogen cost, save hydrogen producers billions of dollars in electricity costs, and enable green hydrogen to outcompete fossil fuel-derived hydrogen," claims Hysata CEO Paul Barrett.

Hysata's CTO Gerry Swiegers added, "Hysata's overall electrolyzer system has been designed for ease of manufacturing, scaling and installation, delivering 95 percent overall system efficiency, equivalent to 41.5 kWh/kg, compared to 75 percent or less for existing electrolyzer technologies."