Hydrogen Process R&D
Hydrogen Process Research and Development
This research project seeks to develop a scalable and systematic process to evaluate the viability of decentralised and regional-scale renewable energy hybrid systems to generate hydrogen from sustainable resources.
| Lead participants:
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) |
Classification:
Research and Development
|
Status:
In progress |
Estimated cost:
AUD$9.30 million |
| Research partners:
Swinburne University of Technology; University of Tokyo; Sumitomo Electric Industries; Griffith University; Energy Developments Limited; CS Energy
|
Main supply chain category:
Whole supply chain |
Location:
Queensland, Australia |
Announced funding:
AUD$3.35 million – Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) AUD$250,000 – Queensland Government AUD$1.75 million – Industry AUD$0.97 million – Universities |
Research description
This research project seeks to develop a scalable and systematic process to evaluate the viability of decentralised and regional-scale renewable energy hybrid systems to generate hydrogen from sustainable resources.
The research will provide experimental validation and integrated modelling of a hybrid renewable energy process that utilises solar power, energy storage and non-potable water to produce, store, and use hydrogen.
The research will utilise two commercially available solar array technologies and battery packs to power treatment of non-potable water and electrolysis of treated water to produce hydrogen for re-use within the facility and for export. The project includes the construction of a pilot plant at the Queensland Government’s Redlands Research Facility south of Brisbane, Queensland.
Energy will be drawn from a Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) array at the Redlands facility which QUT has been testing in a separate joint project with Japanese company Sumitomo Electric Industries (and which is a partner in this research). This energy would be supplemented by commercially available Si-PV arrays to generate up to 50kW of solar to a pilot plant microgrid.
This microgrid will support control and operation of solar power for storage of energy in battery packs and for production of hydrogen from treated water using different types of electrolysers. The hydrogen is then fed into a fuel cell and back into the grid to re-supply power to the local system.
Data compiled from this pilot plant will be used to validate optimisation models for enterprise-level prediction of hybrid renewable energy systems to produce and use hydrogen from non-potable water.
Other aspects of this research include the development of a next-generation higher energy density battery pack, higher efficiency alkaline electrolysers and microbial electrolysis for production of hydrogen.
More details on the research, including contact information, can be found at the ARENA website for this project.
This research project was part of a suite of projects for which ARENA announced AUD$22.1 million of funding in September 2018.
This description was reviewed by the lead research participant in August 2020.