Increasing the current density in alkaline water electrolysis

The objective of this project is to develop and test new alkaline electrolyzer designs that allow operation at a much higher current density, reducing the effective costs of the electrochemical stack to less than 100 €/kW. The focus is on minimizing the ohmic resistance, which in addition to the membrane is mainly determined by the structure of the electrodes and the gas bubbles formed. If this goal is achieved, it may be possible to reduce the investment costs for large-scale water electrolysis (1 GW+) to a level of 350 €/kW in 2030, making it comparable to SMR in terms of investment costs. If the variable costs of both technologies also become comparable, green hydrogen will become competitive with grey/blue hydrogen. The latter will depend on the speed of roll-out of wind at sea.

People involved in this project: Niels Deen & Aled Meulenbroek