Novel materials to improve green hydrogen production through NextGenerationEU

Graphenea is participating in a new project to improve green hydrogen production with the use of novel materials.

Water2kW, S.L., as the coordinating entity, Graphenea S.A. and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) announce a winning proposal for the second call of incentive program 4: challenges of basic-fundamental research, innovative pilots and training in key enabling technologies within the framework of the "Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan – Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU."

The H2umidity®-PLUS project, with a duration of three years, has a budget of 2,648,781.83 EUR, funding of 1,940,951.94 EUR from IDEA, and a top-tier multidisciplinary team. Participants include Water2kW, Graphenea, the Research Group of Materials for Medicine and Biotechnology (ICMM - CSIC), the Research Group of Materials for Energy, Environment and Catalysis (INCAR - CSIC), and the DENLIA Research Group, Department of Applied Mathematics to Aerospace Engineering of the UPM.

The proposed developments in advanced materials and processes for green hydrogen production, once integrated together into the resulting prototype, aim to achieve a 60% improvement in energy efficiency compared to the industry reference value for standard PEMWE (Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis) technology. The project also aims to significantly reduce the costs associated with the materials used in H2umidity® (Water2kW) technology by employing more abundant and cheaper alternative electrocatalysts and new structures that enhance the performance of the catalysis involved in the standard PEMWE process.

The final integration and optimization of all developments in materials and processes will be carried out through a virtual prototyping platform of the various stack components and the application of a machine learning-based control system, which will allow the consortium to improve engineering costs and development times of the technology with the consequent impact on project costs (30% reduction) at the pre-commercial and commercial levels.