Continuous and Scalable Hybrid Photo-Electro Chemical Production of Renewable Hydrogen from Non-Potable Water Sources
Grant
Overview
Affiliation
View All
Overview
abstract
Worldâ s energy demand will continue to grow, fueled by population growth and improved standards of living. Doubling of demand is projected by 2100, and the energy systems will have to (at minimum) grow at 1% to meet this demand. However, it is also clear that status quo of current energy mix is unsustainable. Mitigating climate change will require completely arresting any further increase in global CO2 level by 2070. This implies we should reach a decarbonization target of 50% by 2045 and 20% by 2030. In the medium term, the targets will be met by switching to cleaner hydrocarbon sources as observed by growing demand for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) at 4% currently. However, in longer term, powered by economies of scale, regulations and consumer preferences, the renewables will continue to grow and start leading the energy mix by 2050. Resultant, abundantly available and affordable electric power that will travel from power surplus regions to deficient ones via additional energy vectors, for example, Hydrogen. Qatar is uniquely advantaged to provide the world with clean energy and related products, e.g., LNG, GTL, MeOH, Urea, etc, and, with abundant year-round sunlight, is well positioned for greening of these products. Note that several of these products require hydrogen as a feed, which is conventionally sourced from CH4 and is CO¬2 intensive. Leveraging innovations in the space of generation, hydrogen can be sourced alternatively from water using surplus energy; This is the focus of the proposed studyâ "Continuous and Scalable Hybrid Photo-Electro Chemical Production of Renewable Hydrogen from Non-Potable Water Sources,â as a unique industry-led public-private collaboration. Championed by Shell with expertise in industrial requirements, water and piloting, a team is collated between Texas A&M-Qatar (TAMUQ) and National Chemical Laboratories (NCL) to develop hybrid photo- electro- chemical (HPEC) process comprising photo- electro- catalyst(s) for a hybrid concentrated solar- electro- reactor capable of processing non-potable water, and develop integrated systems model for steering research including scaleup and assessing commercial feasibilityâ this is depicted pictorially in Figure 2. At a high level, 4 elements are proposedâ Catalyst development, Reactor design and development, Systems Integration and Real-time Pilot..........
