I-Corps: Electrolyzers for Green Hydrogen Production Using Reverse Osmosis Membranes

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种电解槽，以较低的成本生产绿色氢气，而不会对环境产生负面影响。2020年全球氢气市场规模为1550亿美元，预计2030年将达到3170亿美元，复合年增长率为9.3%。不同的行业，包括运输（轻型，中型和重型燃料电池汽车），工业（炼油，金属精炼，生物燃料，氨和合成烃）和存储（天然气补充和季节性储能）是氢的主要客户。传统的制氢方法昂贵，并将污染物释放到环境中。这项技术有可能减少温室气体排放，帮助克服全球变暖等环境挑战。不同的工业部门可以以较低的成本使用绿色氢气，该技术将使用可再生能源进行氢气生产，从而实现可持续发展。这个I-Corps项目是基于使用薄膜复合（TFC）膜开发用于绿色制氢的电解槽。在所提出的技术中，TFC膜（例如，反渗透膜）代替更昂贵的质子交换膜（PEM）来解决通过电解生产绿色氢的高成本。从技术角度来看，在电解槽中使用TFC膜具有若干优点。首先，它可以限制盐离子的传输，同时允许质子通过，使电极之间的电荷平衡。其次，在电解槽中利用TFC膜可以限制室（阳极电解液和阴极电解液）之间的气体转移并允许氢气产生。此外，初步研究表明，与商业离子交换膜相比，TFC膜具有可接受的水电解性能。该技术将采用可再生能源（例如，太阳能）用于海水电解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an electrolyzer for producing green hydrogen at a lower cost and without negative environmental impacts. The global market size of hydrogen was $155B in 2020 and is expected to reach $317B in 2030 with a compound annual growth rate of 9.3%. Different sectors, including transportation (light, medium, and heavy fuel cell vehicles), industry (oil refining, metals refining, biofuels, ammonia, and synthetic hydrocarbons), and storage (natural gas supplementation and seasonal energy storage) are the main customers of hydrogen. Conventional methods of hydrogen production are expensive and release pollutants into the environment. The proposed technology has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, helping overcome environmental challenges like global warming. Different industrial sectors can use green hydrogen at a reduced cost, and the technology will use renewable sources of energy for hydrogen production, leading toward sustainable development. This I-Corps project is based on the development of electrolyzers for green hydrogen production using thin film composite (TFC) membranes. In the proposed technology, TFC membranes (e.g., reverse osmosis membranes) are used instead of more expensive proton exchange membranes (PEMs) to address the high cost of green hydrogen production by electrolysis. From a technical point of view, using a TFC membrane in the electrolyzer has several advantages. First, it could limit the transport of salt ions while allowing protons to pass, making charge balance between electrodes. Second, utilizing the TFC membrane in the electrolyzer could restrict the gas transfer between chambers (anolyte and catholyte) and allow hydrogen gas production. Moreover, initial investigations indicate that TFC membranes have acceptable performance for water electrolysis compared to commercial ion exchange membranes. This technology will employ renewable energy sources (e.g., solar energy) for seawater electrolysis. As a result, it could be possible to produce green hydrogen at a reduced cost without greenhouse gas emissions to the environment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.