Hydrogen technology development racing ahead with great minds at work

The word “breakthrough” is heavily overused, but the frequency with which it appears in articles about hydrogen technology is more than hyperbole.

Great minds are working on all aspects of the hydrogen supply chain and the pace of innovation at the moment is staggering. Just this week, developments have included cheaper fuel cell materials, record clean hydrogen efficiency and progress on the replacement of rare metals in electrolyser catalysts.

A new fuel cell design from Imperial College that uses iron instead of costly platinum was unveiled by the London university. With about 60% of the cost of a fuel cell coming from platinum, the breakthrough could have a profound impact on the cost of hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles, energy storage and other applications.

German steelmaker Salzgitter produced green hydrogen with record efficiency of 84% using solid oxide electrolysis compared with the typical 60% achieved by alkaline electrolysis or proton-exchange-membrane electrolysis. The electrolyser was built by German manufacturer Sunfire and uses waste heat from the steelmaking process.

A new fuel cell design from Imperial College London (pictured) that uses iron instead of costly platinum was unveiled by the London university.

In the United States, research out of UCLA has shown progress in replacing and reducing the use of precious metals, such as iridium and platinum, in electrolysers. NewHydrogen, which sponsored the research, says its catalyst raw material is less expensive than platinum and performs better.

Of course, not every technological breakthrough will make it to commercialisation, which is why we are reticent to hail every announcement as the beginning of a revolution. However, if only a fraction of these ideas make it, innovation in hydrogen technology will be rapid and costs will plummet.

This is important because only clean hydrogen can solve some of the world’s biggest decarbonisation challenges, whether heavy industry, chemical production or transport. The energy transition needs to be economically feasible for those at the front line, so the faster costs come down, the quicker they can make the transition.

Clean hydrogen can solve some of the world’s biggest decarbonisation challenges, whether heavy industry, chemical production or transport.

Accurate technology-based predictions are always incredibly hard to make. Analysts, including those at the International Energy Agency (IEA), routinely underestimated the pace at which renewable energy costs would decline and capacity would grow over the past 20 years.

However, analysis from Rethink Energy earlier this year that predicted the cost of electrolysers used to produce green hydrogen will plummet 85% by the end of the decade no longer looks like an outlier. Wood Mackenzie said in December that some countries would be able to produce green hydrogen for $1/kg by 2030, while US electrolyser maker Ohmium has said it will be able to achieve that price in India by 2025.

With the swarm of great engineering minds working on hydrogen technology today, the hydrogen economy of tomorrow is in safe hands.

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