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.”
liquid or gas?
“forgoing the need for large, expensive electrolysis plants.”
The practical use of hydrogen fuel is for automobiles. Plants can be small, placed at individual fueling stations.
Yes, there have always been a small group of hermits that enjoy their lifestyles - But Valley girls?
I simply prefer continence and LNG, Oil and Coal - Nuclear as well currently provide for this excellent lifestyle in an extremely cost effective way in the U.S. of A
As for the Rest of the world, just look around, they all wish to be here, and not where they live in their limited energy ways.
Gas, why? Gasoline vapor is even more explosive. I don’t get your point.
“Hydrogen has been proven to be as safe as or even safer than other flammable fuels such as gasoline or natural gas. However, hydrogen gas has a few unique properties that require special consideration. ... Hydrogen, handled with this knowledge, is a safe fuel.”
And it’s all based on pure LAZINESS, consumerism, class and status, and universal assumptions that everyone has to absolutely have these amenities to be “comfortable” or they are living substandard.
We are completely independent of this cultural and financial enslavement. A little hard work and very slight inconvenience is worth every bit of not being sucked or forced into the dependency mess and having society dictate how we should live.
Let the valley girls have at it and beat themselves up trying to out do each other. We can just sit back and watch it all slowly destroy it’s self knowing we are ahead of the game and will be just fine when it does.
Bump for later
Wow...100+year old technology that givs you nothing to solve a non problem. Take my money!
Don’t collect farts .... they aren’t the problem. It’s the ‘burps’ that are destroying the solar system. And, if your invention were to be switched around to cover the bovine mouth in an effort to sequester the burps, then the cows will surely die from starvation. So ... it is apparent to me that your idea of collecting farts STINKS !
re: “Top honors for greenhousiest gas goes to sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)”
NOT for quantity though ...
Not sure I want a large tank of a highly explosive gas right next to my house.
L
re: “I gave two links. Nothing more, nothing less so that others may look into a subject if they so chose. “
There have been no validations of the so-called “theory” even of what you are ... proffering.
Nothing but ‘cranks’ who cannot even contemplate, let alone conduct, a reputable, repeatable experiment or demo of the ‘tech’ they think they are pursuing ...
lol
There is usually an in between that works out very well.
Trust me, to save money the temperature has to be higher than I was willing to endure 2 years ago and in the winter the temperature has to lower than I was willing to endure 2 years ago!
Yeah they REALLY use the technology to its full advantage.
It’s a smart move.
The key here is location, trick is finding a micro-climate to live in where it’s not too cold and not too hot, comfortable almost year round. We live higher altitude desert where it is absolutely NICE 90% of the year. Very little heating or cooling even needed.
“Not significantly more dangerous than natural gas.”
Hydrogen will ignite over a very wide mixture range. That is one of the characteristics that makes it dangerous.
“Hydrogen gas forms explosive mixtures with air in concentrations from 4–74% and with chlorine at 5–95%.”
I spent the first Nine years of my life in a Communist country - The scenes you see in Venezuela today remind me of some of these inconveniences.Things like no Toilet paper
Only the Few are willing to live off the grid
AND?! Does that mean it will never be accomplished and could be turned from a theory to an actuality simply because you disapprove of it?
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of US patent office, 1899
We still maintain the luxury of toilet paper. You don’t have to live third world. Just use a percolator coffee pot instead of an electric drip maker. Or make toast on the stove top instead of using a toaster, Or actually cooking on the stove instead of using a microwave, which we do actually have enough power to run if we like. We just do without space heaters.
Why? The lower stress level of not trying to keep up with the competitive rat race indentured servitude is both good for physical and mental health. It’s good for the soul, it’s nice to have the comfort to know you are not locked in and dependent on anyone else and all the mess that goes with it. :)
There is more than one form of being rich... What I find funny is how many “conservatives” insist that being minimalistic and not wasteful and owned by debt is not considered as being “conservative” ideology. :)
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