Topic: Bubble–Free Capillary Electrolysis – A new approach to industrial water electrolysis and Reflections on Commercialisation of Technological Innovations
Renewable, or green, hydrogen will play a critical role in the future decarbonization of our economy, particularly of the so-called ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors like heavy transport, steel, chemicals, and aviation. However, renewable hydrogen is presently not cost-competitive with fossil fuels due to the poor energy efficiency of state-of-the-art commercial water electrolysers. This presentation will describe a remarkable new technology that promises to deliver cost-competitive renewable hydrogen in the near future. The technology employs an electrochemical cell architecture in which water is fed by capillary action to the electrodes, allowing for direct production of hydrogen without the formation of gas bubbles. ‘Bubble-free’ water electrolysers of this type demonstrate efficiencies of ≥95%, equating to an energy consumption of 41.5 kWh per kg hydrogen (vs. 50-53 kWh/kg by present-day commercial electrolysers). This exceeds the target of the International Renewable Energy Agency for the year 2050. The commercialisation of such technological innovations will also be reflected upon. The demand for cost-competitive green hydrogen is such that the company developing this new technology, Hysata Pty Ltd, already has an order book of more than $5 billion.
Presenters:
Prof. Gerry Swiegers, University of Wollongong, CTO at Hysata
Gerhard (Gerry) F. Swiegers is an Australian Research Council Industry Laureate Fellow at the University of Wollongong. He received a PhD in 1991 from the University of Connecticut in the USA. Following Post-Doctoral work at the Australian National University, he joined the University of Wollongong in 1995. During 1998-2009 he was a Principal Research Scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). In 2010, he returned to the University of Wollongong, specializing in the commercialization of fundamental research and bridging the academia-to-industry gap. Professor Swiegers has founded 7 spin-off companies and licensed or sold 3 new technologies in the last 20 years. His commercialization activities have attracted an estimated $150 million in private investment thus far, and numerous awards, including two DuPont Innovation awards. He has published 2 scholarly books, 147 peer-reviewed scientific papers/chapters, and 60 patent families, comprising 366 individual patent applications. He has participated in $24.5 million of competitive grant funding. His inventions have found use in the pharmaceutical, apparel, casino chip, agricultural, automobile, energy, and other industries.
Hydrogen Links – Industry Focused Academic Research
Webinar series by HSA with the support of Academic and Industry Collaborator