Report says that hydrogen fuel from sunlight could meet costs

The process, which is being developed by Prof Alan Weimer’s research team of CU-Boulder’s chemical and biological engineering department, involves an array of mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays and create temperatures up to 2,640°F.

The process is said to consist of two steps — each involving reactions of a thin film of metal ferrite coating with a reactive substrate contained in a solar receiver — to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

According to CU-Boulder, the current lowest-cost method for producing hydrogen is the steam-methane reforming of natural gas, primarily methane. In this process, significant amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere.

The report commissioned by the US Department of Energy (DOE) was produced by TIAX, a technology processing and commercialisation company headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts. The report authors evaluated process conditions, major capital equipment, materials and utilities usage rates, estimated equipment sizes, financial and operating assumptions.

CU’s approach does not result in greenhouse-gas emissions and is more cost effective than competing technologies because the water-splitting reactions occur at lower temperatures and are faster, said Weimer. In addition, less energy and fewer active materials are required, resulting in lower costs.

Weimer said the solar receiver’s thin film coating on a porous active support allows heat and steam — necessary to reactions — to flow more easily through the device and for reactions to occur more efficiently.

‘We’ve been able to reduce the temperature required to split water by about 250°C [482°F] and we have eliminated what appears to be a major roadblock in terms of an unstable intermediate by using thin films and a reactive substrate,’ said Weimer. ‘It’s pretty significant and it seems like there’s a good shot for this to become mainstream in the southwest US and other high insolation regions around the world.’

Weimer refers to his water-splitting method as a ’triple play’. It not only uses renewable resources and produces hydrogen, but it also can purify brackish into potable water — a by-product that he says could address water-shortage issues in the future.

Weimer said he hopes to garner continued research support through government and private resources.

The DOE is investigating novel approaches for solar thermochemical water splitting to produce hydrogen with the eventual goal of commercialising production.

Cost targets in this analysis set hydrogen production in 2015 at $6 per kilogram and hydrogen delivery in 2025 at $2 to $3 per kilogram. CU-Boulder’s thin-film metal ferrite process is projected to meet both benchmarks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPVt7Jkq55A