New electrolysis cells pave the way for cheaper hydrogen

Ceramic electrolysis cells with new electrodes present good outcomes and no indicators of electrode deterioration after 1,000 hours of testing at DTU. Electrolysis cells play a key function in changing inexperienced electrical energy from wind generators and photo voltaic cells into fuels akin to hydrogen, methanol and ammonia that may assist scale back CO₂ emissions and promote sustainable transportation and trade.

Researchers at DTU have fabricated and examined a new type of ceramic electrolysis cells with Ni-GDC fuel electrodes and demonstrated that as an alternative of carrying out, the electrodes preserve their efficiency. Professor at DTU Henrik Lund Frandsen estimates that the elevated lifetime of Ni-GDC electrolysis cells can result in vital financial savings in materials consumption in future power-to-x crops and scale back the value of inexperienced hydrogen by as much as 5%.

“If we can get ceramic electrolysis cells into power-to-x technology in enough places around the world, their efficiency means that you can save 25% of all the electricity needed to produce the same amount of green fuel and save up to about 20% of the price of hydrogen. And if we also improve the lifespan of the technology, it will result in material savings, which will mean a further price reduction of 5%,” says Frandsen.

A thousand hours of testing

The experiments to guage the soundness of the Ni-GDC electrodes had been performed by postdoc Morten Phan Klitkou and others at DTU. The assessments had been carried out at totally different currents for 1,000 hours. The outcomes confirmed that the resistance within the gasoline electrode solely degraded barely at very excessive present attracts. The experiments confirmed that the first degradation mechanism of standard ceramic electrolysis cells may very well be prevented because the nickel within the electrode didn’t transfer even beneath the excessive present draw. Present cell know-how wouldn’t have been in a position to tolerate the identical pressure.

Nevertheless, the researchers discovered that there are nonetheless some challenges with the brand new electrolysis cells, the place the brand new supplies have prompted one other drawback within the electrolyte. Regardless of this new complication, the researchers imagine that the check outcomes with the Ni-GDC electrolysis cells are very optimistic and present a scalable path to manufacturing extremely environment friendly and long-lasting electrolysis cells.

The manufacturing of hydrogen by electrolysis is a key a part of the inexperienced transition, the place step one in any power-to-x (PtX) course of is at all times the manufacturing of hydrogen by electrolysis. Sooner or later, we could have massive quantities of energy accessible from wind turbines and solar cellstogether with from the 2 vitality islands to be constructed within the North Sea and on Bornholm. A lot of the green electricity from the islands will probably be used to provide fuels for functions which might be troublesome to impress, akin to heavy street transportation, aviation, delivery, and a variety of industrial processes.

Manufacturing of electrolysis cells

In Denmark, a whole lot of analysis and improvement of ceramic electrolysis cells has been carried out in a collaboration between the corporate Topsoe and researchers at DTU. In 2014, the events entered right into a non-exclusive license settlement that made it doable to fabricate and develop ceramic electrolysis cells (SOEC) in collaboration with DTU Power. In 2023, this improvement led Topsoe to start out building of the world’s first massive scale manufacturing unit to provide high-temperature electrolysis cells assembled in massive numbers in so-called stacks in Herning. When the manufacturing unit is accomplished in 2025, will probably be in a position to produce 500 MW of electrolysis items yearly, and by 2030, manufacturing will probably be expanded to five GW yearly.

Frandsen estimates that it’ll take as much as ten years earlier than the Ni-GDC electrolysis cells are totally scaled up and utilized in power-to-X crops internationally.