Lowering the cost of proton exchange water electrolysis systems

April 19th, 2024

R&D Focus Areas:
Electrolysis

Lead Organisation:
Monash University

Partners:
The University of Sydney, CSIRO, Woodside Energy Ltd, Ixom Operations Pty Ltd, Endua Pty Ltd

Status:
Active

Start date:
March 2024

Completion date:
April 2029

Key contacts:
Associate Professor Alexandr Simonov, School of Chemistry, Monash University – alexandr.simonov@monash.edu

Funding:
AUD$2.29 million – Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

Project total cost:
AUD$7.21 million

Project summary description (as published by ARENA):
The Project aims to deliver a cost-effective proton-exchange water electrolysis technology for renewable hydrogen generation from pure and saline/seawater.

The project will be delivered in two stages:

The core research stage, including:

  • Refine, develop and optimise noble-metal-free catalysts, high-conductivity membranes and porous transport layers, produced by scalable industry-ready methods, for the proton-exchange water electrolysers;
  • Integrate the new materials into proton-exchange water electrolyser prototypes and optimise the operating conditions to maximise performance, and
  • Demonstrate robust operation of the laboratory-scale devices under industrially relevant conditions on a practical timescale comparison of cooling strategies and cooling coil layouts.

The research commercialisation stage, including:

  • Design of scaled-up electrolyser cells
  • Construction of 100 cm2 water electrolysis cells
  • The demonstration of a stacked electrolyser system based on earth abundant materials at ≥1 kilowatt scale.

The objectives for the project will be achieved through the following outcomes:

  1. Accelerated commercialisation of renewable hydrogen through innovative research and development in hydrogen production technologies
  2. Increased academic research capacity in the Australian hydrogen sector, and the facilitation of collaboration between research groups and industry
  3. Improvement in the technology readiness and commercial readiness of hydrogen production technologies
  4. Development of lower cost catalysts to replace the estimated 1,000-fold more expensive Platinum on carbon (Pt/C) and IrOx, which reduce the cell stack costs by ~20-25%, reducing reliance on precious metals used as catalysts;
  5. Ability to utilise saline water/seawater for electrolysis which will enable reduction of desalination costs and plant footprint (reducing balance of plant costs by 3%), unlocking offshore hydrogen production applications, and
  6. Development of high-throughput synthesis systems which can facilitate tailorable catalyst synthesis and reduced cost porous transport layers.

Related publications and key links:
https://arena.gov.au/projects/lowering-the-cost-of-proton-exchange-water-electrolysis-systems/

Higher degree studies supported:
There will be at least 4 PhDs (3 at Monash University, 1 at the University of Sydney) supported by the project.

 

April 2024