NewHydrogen, Inc., a developer of green hydrogen technologies, offered an update on the status of its technology program and efforts to bring the cost of green hydrogen production down.
Additionally, the Company believes that by 2022, hydrogen produced from renewable sources will be a critical component of a sustainable energy future.
Despite market uncertainties in a number of areas, the global push toward a green hydrogen economy continues tremendously strong as we approach 2022. The green hydrogen supply chain is thriving across Europe, particularly in Spain, France, and Germany. As mentioned during the last Green Hydrogen Coalition meeting, which NewHydrogen attended, the German government is moving its energy resources away from coal and natural gas and toward green hydrogen, with all dispatchable energy coming from hydrogen.
- The recently enacted federal infrastructure bill in the United States included the following:
- $8 billion will be spent on the development of regional clean hydrogen centers.
- A billion dollars will be spent to reduce the cost of electrolytic hydrogen generation.
- $500 million for a clean hydrogen manufacturing and recycling initiative to aid in the development of the domestic supply chain
A grant initiative to assist with the development of EV and fuel cell EV infrastructure
The HyDeal LA initiative, which is based in Southern California near NewHydrogen’s headquarters, is establishing a green hydrogen center throughout the Los Angeles area. The center is establishing infrastructure to assist green hydrogen production, delivery, and storage, as well as fueling for the energy, transportation, industrial, maritime, and aviation industries. The center is already generating major new jobs in the Los Angeles area and serving as a model for global prospects.
NewHydrogen’s supported research at UCLA is aimed at lowering the cost of green hydrogen by eliminating or significantly reducing the use of precious metals in electrolyzers. At the moment, electrolyzers rely on rare earth elements such as iridium and platinum. Frequently, these materials account for approximately 50% of the cost of electrolyzers.
By 2021, the initiative would have produced a non-precious metal-based catalyst capable of significantly improving oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance in acidic circumstances for proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. The researchers next enhanced the performance of the catalyst by altering its structure and adjusting its loading conditions. Recently, the catalyst’s long-term stability was further enhanced by the use of a novel surface engineering technique. Increased stability translates into lower long-term running costs for electrolyzers.
Parallel to this endeavor, researchers have been creating catalysts for the hydrogen evolution process (HER) in alkaline electrolyzers. Their research focuses on producing platinum-based HER catalysts that require substantially less platinum, as well as an entirely new form of HER catalyst that does not utilize any platinum. On both fronts, tremendous progress has been accomplished to date. This is consistent with the Company’s focus on creating OER catalysts to enable the fabrication and operation of less expensive electrolyzers.
