The world’s cheapest green hydrogen will likely come from a NewHydrogen innovation
August 25, 2023Article Discusses:
- NewHydrogen, Inc. partners with UC Santa Barbara for green hydrogen research.
- Thermochemical approach used, employing heat instead of electricity.
- The method could lower costs compared to traditional electrolysis methods.
- The technology involves using molten liquids in a single redox chemical loop.
- The system, named NewHydrogen ThermoLoop™, aims for high efficiency and low temperatures.
- The company believes the technology could disrupt the hydrogen industry by reducing production costs significantly.
The California company is improving H2 production efficiency with its disruptive tech.
NewHydrogen, Inc. (OTC: NEWH) announced it has entered a research agreement with University of California, Santa Barbara and is working with a team of UC Santa Barbara experts to develop a more efficient way to split water into cheap green hydrogen using a thermochemical approach.
The groundbreaking technology uses heat instead of electricity to generate hydrogen.
The thermochemical approach uses heat instead of electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This method is different from the conventional approach of producing green hydrogen, which is via electrolysis by using electrolyzers with renewable energy, such as solar or wind, to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The trouble with the conventional approach is that green electricity is very expensive and is the main cost contributor of producing green H2.
According to NewHydrogen CEO Steve Hill, “electricity currently accounts for 73% of the cost of green hydrogen production.”
Hill explained in a NewHydrogen press release that unlike renewable electricity, renewable heat sourced from geothermal or concentrated solar can be much cheaper. “Often it’s even free in the form of waste heat from sources such as nuclear power plants, and industrial processes for making steel, glass, ceramics, and many things we use in our everyday lives,” Hill stated.
The UC Santa Barbara tech team plans to use molten liquids to produce green hydrogen.
The UC Santa Barbara technology team working with NewHydrogen on the cheap green hydrogen project is a team of world-class chemical and materials engineers, led by Dr. Philip Christopher.
Hill revealed that the research team intends to exploit the features of molten liquids to directly and continuously split water in a single redox chemical loop, to generate hydrogen and oxygen in separate chambers.
“We are developing a novel Molten Catalytic Liquid that can be reduced in one chamber,
oxidized in another chamber, and is continuously recycled and reused. The only inputs are heat and water,” Hill said.
The technology is called NewHydrogen ThermoLoop™.
Once fully developed, Hill says the NewHydrogen ThermoLoop™ will be a unique and first-of-its kind, high efficiency thermochemical water-splitter. It will use low-cost common materials and common industrial temperatures below 1,000 degrees Celsius, potentially producing the cheapest green hydrogen in the world.
“NewHydrogen has the potential to disrupt the entire hydrogen industry by dramatically lowering the cost of green hydrogen by using cheap heat and any source of cheap water,” Hill said.
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Using heat either alone or with electricity to provide the energy to split the water molecule is not new, Sunfire in Germany already provides the solid oxide steam electrolyser used at the Saltzgitter steel works in Germany to produce hydrogen from waste steam
Please Count me int this Revolutionized Method
We know that the compounds of organic materials and polymers mainly contain hydrogen elements, why do we not have an idea about their decomposition?
Is anyone working on geothermal?
Drilling deep closer to core is the only way to make hydrogen from heat cheaper. Freshwater is a problem for hydrogen production. Brackish and salt water will ultimately be the main source of hydrogen for large scale production, but The cost of desalination is still high. Maybe the two will balance and still make hydrogen cheaper than natural gas. Keep thinking outside the box!
Why didn’t that German company make Hydrogen?
Re: Mr. Hill of New Hydrogen Inc.
It is fine to set up shop near a heat emitting facility such as a steel plant or nuclear power plant. The ownership of such enterprises are likely to charge a “retail rate”, though they consider it a waste product, especially in the case of a privately-owned utility.
That said, the need to lower mobile emissions in southern Florida is great in the face of ever increasing motor vehicle congestion. Since transport authorities and local governments are looking at options,
is there consideration from the private sector to provide cleanly-produced H2 for newly-proposed replacement of commuter rail locomotives and coaches, locally? (August, 2023)
why dont these articles announcing huge green hydrogen breakthroughs ever put net efficiency figures up front?
that is the only figure that matters at all.
and no functional hydrogen energy system comes anywhere close to renewable electricity plus batteries and grid.
and even if it were at parity, the miserable efficiency of transporting, storing and converting hydrogen to useful power STILL make it useless.
Dear Mr Fackert,
I would tend to agree with you, except for some real-world facts:
1. We don’t have enough lithium to reach our goals. And, China controls 97% of it.
2. We don’t have enough charging infrastructure, and what is out there is 25-50% not working at any given time.
3. Americans want fill-up times in 5-10 minutes. Hydrogen can do that.
4. Hydrogen provides greater range by far than current battery technology.
So, Hydrogen can fill in the gaps until BEVS mature. It’s perfect in hybrids.