Focus area 1: Hydrogen production using electrolysis
A vast majority of the hydrogen globally produced today originates from fossil sources either produced by reforming of natural gas or gasification of coal. Electrolysis of water, on the other hand, provides a clean and emission-free route for the direct transfer of renewable electrical energy into hydrogen gas.
The technology is well known but needs to be further developed in order to meet technical requirements posed by an energy sector based on renewable electricity production, and to be economically competitive. This involves decreasing the electric energy used per produced unit of hydrogen, as well as to investigate technologies with potentially lower investment costs.
In PUSH we focus on polymer membrane electrolytic cells based on new classes of alkaline membranes, which enable the use of abundant catalyst material such as nickel and are better adopted to respond to fast load changes.