Hydrogen production via water electrolysis at high temperature and pressure

随着大气二氧化碳水平持续上升，要实现2°C的目标（2015年在巴黎宣布），就需要在减少温室气体（GHG）排放的颠覆性技术上取得突破。通过与我们的工业合作伙伴Carbon Engineering（CE）合作，我们正在改进通过直接空气捕获（DAC）吸收二氧化碳所需的技术，并生产燃料以减少分布式源的排放，例如，飞机、卡车和轮船。CE在不列颠哥伦比亚省的斯夸米什米什建造并运营了一个DAC示范工厂，目标是每天捕获500公斤二氧化碳。二氧化碳转化为燃料的途径面临的最具挑战性的科学和技术障碍包括开发一种可靠且具有成本效益的方法来生产碳中性的氢气，以将二氧化碳转化为燃料。目前，在该方法中利用水电解作为氢的来源，但其昂贵。通过提高电解过程的温度和压力，可以实现更高的转化效率和随后更便宜的氢气。然而，到目前为止，只有几个研究规模的示范存在，没有氢收集。拟议的研究旨在通过探索更便宜的氢的途径来降低成本并提高空气到燃料转换的效率。这是通过使用世界上第一个能够运行电化学并在高达和超过水的超临界点（374ºC/220 bar）的条件下收集氢气的系统来实现的。该项目的目的是i）评估和建立高温下水电解的最佳条件，ii）探索和确定最佳电极材料，iii）实验证明和经济评估高温下的氢气生产。

As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, reaching the 2°C targets (announced in Paris in 2015) will require breakthroughs in disruptive technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In collaboration with our industrial partner, Carbon Engineering (CE), we are improving the technologies required to absorb CO2 through Direct Air Capture (DAC) and produce fuels to reduce emissions from distributed sources, e.g., aeroplanes, trucks, and ships. CE has built and is operating a DAC demonstration plant in Squamish, BC, with the goal to capture 500 kg CO2 per day. The most challenging scientific and technical barriers for the CO2-to-fuels pathway include developing a reliable and cost-efficient way to produce carbon-neutral hydrogen for the conversion of CO2 into fuels. Currently, water electrolysis is utilized in the process as a source of hydrogen, but it is expensive. By increasing the temperature and pressure of the electrolytic process, one can achieve higher conversion efficiencies and subsequently cheaper hydrogen. However, only a couple of research scale demonstrations exist so far and none with hydrogen collection.The proposed research aims to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of air-to-fuel conversion by exploring a pathway for cheaper hydrogen. This is done by using the first system in the world able to run electrochemistry and collect hydrogen at conditions up to and beyond the supercritical point of water (374ºC/220 bar). The aim of the project is to i) evaluate and establish the optimum conditions for water electrolysis at high temperatures, ii) explore and identify optimum electrode materials, and iii) experimentally demonstrate and economically assess hydrogen production at high temperatures.