They create a new system to extract hydrogen from humid air, even in the desert

by time news

Green hydrogen (or renewable hydrogen) is considered as one of the potential alternatives to fossil fuels: produced by electrolyzers that use water and electricity, this process is powered entirely by renewable energy, without generating any type of polluting emission to the atmosphere. The problem is that the equipment that produces it usually requires complex (and often expensive) components, and access to fresh water, a resource that is not equally distributed in all parts of the world.

Now, a team from the University of Melbourne (Australia) has created a new system that, instead of extracting hydrogen from liquid water, can do so from humidity in the air. The results have just been published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’.

“This is the first technology capable of directly producing high-purity hydrogen from the air, and you can do it anywhere on Earth as long as you have power,” he says. Gang Kevin Li from the University of Melbourne, whose group found that sulfuric acid was the best material to act like a sponge to capture water.

The prototype includes five straight-air electrolysers stacked vertically and in parallel. To obtain the energy, they used a commercial silicon solar panel and, in another experiment, a small wind turbine. In this way they were able to make it work for 12 consecutive days. In addition, the device was able to capture water even at 4 percent humidity, lower than the average in deserts, which is usually 20 percent.

The researchers say this could make hydrogen production viable in places like central Australia and the Middle East. It could also work in remote locations, allowing hydrogen to help off-grid villages balance intermittent supplies of solar power.

The device was mostly used indoors, so the next step for the team will be to test it outdoors for longer, including in a desert, to see how it handles real-world challenges like dust.

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