BioSolar announces new subsidiary for green hydrogen electrolyzer technology
December 17, 2020NewHydrogen Inc will focus on reducing the cost of zero-emission H2 fuel production.
Energy storage technology and materials company, BioSolar Inc., recently announced the launch of its NewHydrogen Inc. subsidiary to develop green hydrogen electrolyzer technology.
The company hopes to be able to use this new tech to produce green H2 more cheaply.
This new green hydrogen electrolyzer technology development strategy will operate in conjunction with BioSolar’s existing lithium-ion technology development that focuses on high-growth battery electric vehicles. That said, this new strategy will place the spotlight on the fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) sector.
Although H2 can be produced using fossil fuels such as natural gas, producing it in its green form means that its production is powered by renewable energy that does not generate greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2. This is expected to represent a substantial market opportunity in electric mobility’s future. Goldman Sachs released a research report this year, pointing to green hydrogen as a “once in a lifetime” market opportunity with a value of $12 trillion.
Green hydrogen electrolyzer technology produces a fuel with considerably more energy than natural gas.
Pound for pound, H2 contains 200 times more energy than lithium-ion batteries. It even contains three times the energy in gasoline or natural gas. Furthermore, as it is the most common and abundant clean energy in the universe, there is no shortage of supply. Among the main challenges in obtaining it, is that it doesn’t simply exist in caches of its pure form. Instead, it must be extracted from other source.
As of this year, almost 95 percent of H2 is produced by steam reforming natural gas – known as grey hydrogen – or coal gasification – known as brown hydrogen. As both those forms rely on fossil fuels, the difference between this type of H2 and non-renewable, emission-producing energy sources isn’t vastly different. It does not propel the world forward in a fight against climate change.
It is for this reason that green hydrogen electrolyzer technology is important. Developing this tech means coming up with viable means of producing H2 without relying on non-renewable fossil fuels while still emitting greenhouse gasses.