An international partnership led by Cranfield University is setting out to make low-cost, large-scale net zero hydrogen production a reality.
The five-year, £14.1mn Global Hydrogen Production Technologies Center (HyPT) project also involves Arizona State University, the University of Adelaide and the University of Toronto, with the ambition to accelerate net zero hydrogen technologies, making net zero hydrogen available at low cost. The target is around $1 per kilogram of hydrogen.
It is aiming to develop three major net zero hydrogen production technologies, including water electrolysis, which sees electricity being used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen; methane pyrolysis, where natural gas is heated to a high temperature, splitting into hydrogen and solid carbon; and photocatalytic solar, which uses sunlight to help water split into oxygen and hydrogen.
While breakthroughs in these technologies are developed, researchers will explore the impacts they have on local communities and ecosystems, delving into the social and environmental system changes required to build a global hydrogen economy in an ethical manner. Researchers will also explore pathways for energy intensive and hard-to-abate industries to adopt hydrogen as a source of energy.
