Green hydrogen production by advanced electrolysis technologies
Giorno 12 febbraio 2024, con inizio alle ore 11:00, presso la Sala Conferenze del DFA, il Dr A. S. Aricò (CNR-ITAE) terrà un seminario dal titolo Green hydrogen production by advanced electrolysis technologies.
Tutte le persone interessate sono invitate a partecipare al seminario.
Il seminario è immediatamente precedente il Kickoff Meeting del PRIN 2022 PNRR IMAGE (riservato ai partecipanti al progetto di ricerca).
Abstract. Europe is rapidly progressing towards a decarbonised energy system. An increasing use of renewable energy sources is expected to cause significant energy management issues. Water electrolysis supplied by renewable energy is the most important technology for producing “green” hydrogen for a variety of applications including transport, heat and electricity production, and industrial uses, e.g. ammonia, methanol, steel making processes etc. However, current alkaline electrolysers that make use of relatively cheap materials are characterised by poor dynamic behaviour and operate at low current densities. On the other hand, conventional PEM electrolysers require a significant loading of platinum-group metals (PGMs) and make use of expensive titanium bipolar plates and diffusion media. These aspects presently limit the possibilities for large-scale applications. A step-change in technology and operating conditions in terms of increase of current density and hydrogen pressure is needed. A novel approach in water electrolysis technology regards the use of a thin anion exchange membrane (AEM) and ionomer dispersion in the catalytic layer for hydroxide ion conduction. This system combines the advantages of both proton exchange membrane and liquid electrolyte alkaline technologies allowing the scalable production of low-cost hydrogen from renewable sources. Another alternative is a PEM water electrolysis technology operating at high current density (4-5 A cm-2) to significantly reduce the capital costs. Recent innovations in terms of materials and systems for proton and anion exchange membrane water electrolysis, developed in the framework of various EU projects, are discussed. The focus regards the challenges addressed to make such technologies highly performing, durable and economically competitive.
Acknowledgement. The author acknowledges the financial support from the project IMAGE - Innovative non-critical raw materials-based electrocatalysts for electrolytic green hydrogen generation PRIN: PROGETTI DI RICERCA DI RILEVANTE INTERESSE NAZIONALE, Prot. P2022KACL7-Bando: PRIN 2022 PNRR (Decreto finanziamento: Decreto Direttoriale n. 1409 del 14 settembre 2022; Codice CUP: E53D23016050001).
Bio. Dr. Antonino S. Aricò -National Research Council CNR / Italy. Since 2020, Dr. Aricò is director of the Institute of Advanced Energy Technologies (CNR-ITAE) and has high competences in electrochemical energy conversion research. He has been coordinator for EU, FCH-JU/Clean hydrogen JU, intrnational, and industry-funded contracts on water electrolysis, fuel cells, coupling renewable power sources with H2 & organic fuel electrochemical generation. Antonino's research includes >380 papers, 8 patents, 2 books, 10 book chapters, presented at >300 conferences. The Scopus database, reports >24,000 citations, H Index >71 & 2016 “under 150 world Most Cited Scholars in Energy Research”. He is from 2014 in the States Representatives Group (SRG) of the FCH JU resp. and today Italian SRG representative for the EC Clean Hydrogen JU.