New concentrated solar reactor gives 0.5kg of hydrogen every day; also produces usable oxygen and heat; can be used for various applications.
Post by SolarPACES taking solar technologies to way further:
- A new solar-radiation-concentrating device produces green hydrogen at a rate of more than 2 kilowatts while maintaining efficiencies above 20%
- The pilot-scale device is already operational under real sunlight conditions and produces usable heat and oxygen
- Developed by researchers at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, the solar reactor could be commercialized in the near future
The system is well-suited for industrial, commercial, and residential applications. SoHHytec SA, a spin-off company from EPFL, is currently deploying and commercializing the technology. They are working with a Swiss metal production facility to build a demonstration plant at a multi-100-kilowatt scale. At this level, the system can generate hydrogen for metal annealing, oxygen for hospitals, and heat for the factory’s hot-water requirements. Beyond metal processing, the system could also be employed in other industrial applications such as fertilizer manufacturing. The versatility of the system, which can co-generate heat, oxygen, and hydrogen, makes it appealing for a variety of industrial uses that require these products. Additionally, the system could be used to power hydrogen fuel cells and provide residential and commercial central heating and hot water. At the scale of the EPFL campus system, it could power around 1.5 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles or meet up to half the electricity demand and more than half of the annual heat demand of a typical four-person Swiss household. In the future, the researchers are exploring the possibility of using the system to split carbon dioxide instead of water, yielding useful materials like syngas for liquid fuel or the green plastic precursor ethylene.
Interestingly, we have some other posts related to this content:
Efficient Green Hydrogen Production with New Material by Twente University: Twente University researchers develop composite material for green hydrogen production, outperforming individual compounds by 680 times without relying on rare metals. Iridium Catalysts – for Efficient Green Hydrogen Production: Iridium catalysts offer efficiency in hydrogen production but face cost challenges. Research explores strategies like defect engineering for wider adoption. Efficient Electrolysers for Hydrogen Production: Johnson Matthey and Hystar to Develop: Partnership aims to tackle hydrogen production challenges with game-changing electrolysers, offering efficiency and affordability for future applications.
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