Posted on 03/16/2019 4:44:49 AM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
A research team in Belgium says its prototype panel can produce 250 liters of hydrogen gas per day
Solar panels are multiplying on rooftops and in gardens worldwide as communities clamor for renewable electricity. But engineers in Belgium say the panels could do more than keep the lights on—they could also produce hydrogen gas on site, allowing families to heat their homes without expanding their carbon footprints.
A team at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, or KU Leuven, says it has developed a solar panel that converts sunlight directly into hydrogen using moisture in the air. The prototype takes the water vapor and splits it into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. If it scales successfully, the technology could help address a major challenge facing the hydrogen economy.
Hydrogen, unlike fossil fuels, doesn’t produce greenhouse gas emissions or air pollution when used in fuel-cell-powered vehicles or buildings. Yet nearly all hydrogen produced today is made using an industrial process that involves natural gas, and this ultimately pumps more emissions into the atmosphere.
A small but growing number of facilities are producing “green” hydrogen using electrolysis, which splits water molecules using electricity—ideally from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Other researchers, including the team in Belgium, are developing what’s called direct solar water-splitting technologies. These use chemical and biological components to split water directly on the solar panel, forgoing the need for large, expensive electrolysis plants.
“Finding a way to create hydrogen in some easier or more efficient way is maybe a Holy Grail quest,” says Jim Fenton, who directs the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida.
KU Leuven sits on a grassy campus in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern region of Belgium. Earlier this month, professor Johan Martens and his team at the Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis announced their prototype could produce 250 liters of hydrogen per day on average over a full year, which they claim is a world record. A family living in a well-insulated Belgian house could use about 20 of these panels to meet their power and heating needs during an entire year, they predict.
The solar panel measures 1.65 meters long—roughly the height of a kitchen refrigerator, or this reporter—and has a rated power output of about 210 watts. The system can convert 15 percent of the solar energy it receives into hydrogen, the team says. That’s a significant leap from 0.1 percent efficiency they first achieved 10 years ago. (Separately, international researchers last year said they achieved 19 percent efficiency in producing hydrogen from direct solar water splitting.) “The most difficult part is getting the water out of the air.” —Tom Bosserez, KU Leuven
However, Martens’s lab was tight-lipped about its technology. Tom Bosserez, a post-doctoral researcher, declined to disclose any specifics, citing intellectual property concerns. He says only that the lab specializes in “catalysts, membranes, and adsorbents.”
“Using our expertise in this area, we were able to develop a system that is very efficient in taking water from the air and splitting it into hydrogen by using solar energy,” Bosserez wrote in an email. Asked about some of the engineering challenges they faced during a decade of development, he says, “The most difficult part is getting the water out of the air.”
Academic papers offer scattered clues about the technology, though Bosserez says their research “goes beyond what we publish.” In recent years, the engineers have studied the efficacy of a variety of materials, including porous, multi-junction silicon solar cells with “micrometer-scale pore dimensions”; thin-film catalysts made from manganese (III) oxide; and a poly (vinyl alcohol) anion exchange membrane involving a potassium hydroxide solution and nickel-based catalysts.
Martens says generally that his team is using “cheap raw materials” in lieu of precious metals and other expensive components. “We wanted to design something sustainable that is affordable and can be used practically anywhere,” he told VRT, a public broadcasting network in Belgium.
Researchers plan to field test their prototype at a house in the rural town of Oud-Heverlee. Hydrogen would be stored in a small, underground pressure vessel during the summer months, then pumped throughout the house during the winter. If all goes according to plan, Martens says the team could install 20 panels at the house, or build a larger neighborhood system to allow other families to use the “green” hydrogen.
Fenton, of the Florida Solar Energy Center, says it’s far too early to determine whether or when hydrogen-producing solar panels could become economically viable. The technology is still in the very early development stage, and—particularly in the United States—existing heating fuels such as natural gas are relatively cheap. However, as countries work to address climate change, and as more communities install local renewable energy infrastructure like rooftop solar, he sees a potential role for these hydrogen systems.
“If the application works out, it might lend itself very nicely to generating hydrogen that I could store and use for the heating of my house, for cooking, maybe run it in my fuel-cell car,” Fenton says. “It’s these futuristic kinds of opportunities. But it’s still something we need to prepare for.”
re: “From the obvious skepticism in your reply it seems to me that you wouldn’t believe anything that I might bring back so why should I even bother? “
Show me a demo.
Anything else is just ... smoke.
THIS is healthy skepticism, separate and distinct from belief, which, apparently, you are demonstrating.
Again, to date, NO demos exist.
I’m always skeptical until I see proof, which is what science is supposed to be. So when I read:
“...announced their prototype COULD produce 250 liters of hydrogen per day on average over a full year, which they claim is a world record...”
The “could” means they’re not today, so I’ll wait for them to actually accomplish it. That said, interesting, although I’ve read more “battery breakthrough” papers than I can count that never materialize into something.
Is there ANY place for windmills and solar energy?
_____________________________________________________
Some. I’d suggest desalinization of sea water as a start. The intermittency of solar and wind power probably wouldn’t be too big problem, given a large enough reservoir for the fresh water.
Having lived off grid for a longtime, I can testify that it works absolutely fine on a small personal scale and as long as you are “tough enough” to do without some high usage appliances. You have to mentally go into “camping” mode where you would not have these anyways. Believe it or not, humans survived without central heating and air for a couple million years. But it seems that the common consensus is that living without these amenities is bad. lol
In essence, they are, but using photoelectrodes.
re: “If you choose not to look into the matter...fine! Don’t!”
No. Demos.
None.
Zip.
Zero.
Something with calorimeters, RMS power meters (capable of including power factor correction in the ‘power’ calculation involving the measurement of volts and amperes).
That sort of thing.
You know, real science.
Something, a demo, an experiment that is repeatable in any appropriately equipped lab.
Until then you only have .... smoke.
It is!!
My idea of roughing it is a 3 star hotel instead of a 4 or 5!! :)
Kudos to you for not becoming a prisoner to modern luxuries.
Hwy that’s good thinking.
Kind of absurd that in 2019 an extended drought can paralyze a state.
But the recent drought in CA will be forgotten fast and any plans for desalinization plans will drop off one by one.
Just did a spreadsheet and did some back of the envelope calcs. 1500 sq feet of panels with 15% efficiency to H with 5 sunlight hrs a day and 65% end use efficiency would meet most homes energy needs. Assuming double the cost of present solar that is a 7 year break even not factoring in interest cost.
Camping - in the woods, without the comfort of a Cold beer from the Fridge on a Hot Summer night and Without Air Conditioning
For those of you married - raise your hands that this is how you wish to "survive"?
And we are not even addressing things like transport - Horses, ? ??
Too much delution going on here
I gave two links. Nothing more, nothing less so that others may look into a subject if they so chose. You obviously chose not to and chose instead to be a smart ass and you are continuing to be a smart ass.
YOU then came back with a snide comment asking for demos.
NEWS FLASH: I don't have to provide you a damn thing.
You trying to make some big deal out of me not providing you with something you want is actually pretty pathetic and lame.
Why don't you post something proving it can't be done if it's all "hokum"?
Speaking of desalinization, the old saying, “Such a deal, you are in Israel,” comes to mind because the Israelis are he world’s leaders in that technology.
And it is the most green house of them all.
Top honors for greenhousiest gas goes to sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
It’s easy when you have lived your whole life primarily working and playing outdoors anyhow. But there is a true compromise that is comfortable, you don’t have to live completely like a caveman. :)
Not true. Hydrogen is a major industrial gas and is used in small and large quantities throughout the world...safely. No new technology is required.
"In order to use it in a car or for any other purpose, you have to store it at high pressure, making it even more likely that the hydrogen will escape through tiny holes.
Also not true. See "hydride storage". Even under pressure, the net leakage is tiny. See point about "major industrial gas".
Sometimes I get MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over), probably not a problem for a Telepathic kind of guy.
Yes, I see it now, H2 + O2= H2O+ heat +...
And 2x to balance it.
“all hydrogen produced today is made using an industrial process that involves natural gas”
Misleading and inaccurate.
To produce hydrogen fuel all you need is air and electricity.
The electricity can come from fossil fuels OR hydro, wind, or solar.
It would be great to “cut out the middle man” oops ... person /s” so to speak.
Hydrogen as a fuel is great! Zero emissions AND you get the water (hydrogen) back. (Hydrogen x 2 and Oxygen x 1)
This will NEVER happen at scale because the “powers that be” won’t allow it to happen.
plural noun: powers that be
The authorities.
synonyms:the authorities, the people in charge, the establishment, the government, the administration, the men in (gray) suits)
Could be lesbians or trannies in (gray) suits as well. /s
I didn’t say completely caveman... We are not completely “green” and there is a compromise that works fine. I’m married and Grandma loves living very remote offgrid away from the mess called humanity.
We use propane for our fridge and cooking, wood for heat in the winter, and believe it or not a 12volt swamp cooler that works just fine to keep us comfortable where we live in the drier desert. We have plenty of personal free power for all our minimal electrical needs like lights, TV etc.
But there is an amazing thing the human body does that we do not entertain or allow anymore and it is very unhealthy not to, it’s called acclimation. After living this way for a couple years you find that heating and cooling is rarely needed because your body once again starts acclimating to winter and summer changes as it was designed to.
If the SHTF, those who are extremely dependent on living in that very narrow 4 degree temperature “comfort” range are not going to make it. For us the grid could go down anytime and the only thing we might miss just a little bit would be the internet.
Other than that it would be our normal lifestyle except we would have to cook with wood instead of propane. Which we already do in the “outside kitchen” during the summer when it’s hot anyways to keep the house cooler. Hopefully barbecuing outdoors is not considered as “too primitive” by society. lol
Imagine the Hindenburg filled with GASOLINE! You drive one every day.
I imagine your home is fueled by natural or LP GAS?
Hydrogen fuel in your car is no more dangerous than gasoline. Some would say a lot safer.
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