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: “ I could give a damn about the green thing but this is interesting. “
You might be interested, then with what is called the Hydrino, and what that means in terms of producing energy.
But, be advised ... wikipedia does not do this subject justice.
This talk given by a Dr. Randell Mills might be a place to start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dCzVUnnL00
As would this slide presentation:
https://www.brilliantlightpower.com/wp-content/uploads/presentations/SCTE-Energy-2020-web.pdf
The obvious solution is to build the plant in the desert and pipe water to it.
They aren’t doing electrolysis.
re: “Is there ANY place for windmills and solar energy?”
Yes.
Remote villages in low-tech, developing, third-world countries placed there by do-gooders and other volunteer organizations ...
LOL
A more technical answer I was looking for but I’ll assume that you’re saying they are not realistically feasible and dependable at an affordable price :)
I’ve seen the numbers here and there, but nothing off the top of my head. Liberals also complain about land being displaced and birds killed by wind and solar, so there’s no pleasing them either. Nor is every day sunny, and every day windy. Green energy companies always ending up flopping (often intentionally, but that’s another story).
re: “ I’ll assume that you’re saying they are not realistically feasible and dependable at an affordable price :)”
Pretty much.
Unless you want to spend _your_ money living where there are no utilities BUT you still want some of the conveniences of civilization ...
Wind/solar for the masses is insane.
“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.
The ‘however’ part means that nat-gas is cheap now, but that the green-weiners want to make it expensive enough to for their Unicorn-fart machine to compete.
FYI, the reason they’re not concerned about water vapor as opposed to CO2 is that CO2 takes much longer to get scrubbed from the atmosphere. Water vapor is scrubbed every time it rains.
The big question is .... How much does it cost? Money is a big factor.I guess that the cost would come down after it became widespread.
“The most difficult part is getting the water out of the air.”
The electric power issue for the process is addressed by using an alternative means of electrical energy.
...from renewable sources such as wind and solar.
Wind power for an individual home has a very small footprint. Why does it have to be some huge corporate entity that provides wind power when a home wind turbine system would suffice?
Solar panels, wind turbines, hydrogen for heating/cooking purposes...all for free after the initial equipment purchase and installation...
Who can complain?
Well, I guess the utility companies can complain. There go the profits.
Large industries would probably still need large production facilities, but the average person/home owner wouldn't.
Good enough for me.
Man I have a Dodge Challenger and until they make a sports care that can go 1000 miles without a battery charge and reach the same speeds, I’m just dandy with fossil fuels.
It is only 2.50 a gallon in NYC for gas. Which means most of you folks are paying quite a bit less since our taxes are so high on gas.
I would LOVE 2 bucks a gallon but 2.50 is a LOT better than the 4.25 under obama.
Who said 4.25 prices meant the economy was tearing it up!!
What an idiot.
IMHO windmills are a joke. Solar is viable with todays tech except for two glaring things. Storage cost and night. Without superconductivity at room temp where you can feed the current in and hold it indefinitely and pull it out as needed you rely on batteries. It is massively cost prohibitive to meet peak loads from a battery bank. You need backup. Why even bother with solar if there is backup that is as cheap or cheaper? With solar to H direct conversion the storage thing is no longer a problem if it is efficient enough and costs less than the backup. Use a hydrogen fuel cell for the remaining electrical needs and be totally off grid home energy wise.
“Do I want to use hydrogen to heat my house? Do I really need to be that warm?”
You can also post a picture of an exploding automobile from gasoline or an exploding house from leaking gas.
re: “FYI, the reason they’re not concerned about water vapor as opposed to CO2 is that CO2 takes much longer to get scrubbed from the atmosphere. Water vapor is scrubbed every time it rains.”
I see that argument proffered at every turn, but, something isn’t making sense ...
CO2 represents such a small fraction of GHGs, WV MUCH larger ... also, WV is good up to only a certain altitude, beyond which there isn’t much.
NOW we are into “model” territory ... and deeper radiational physics, and I’m not prepped presently for that deeper debate.
Inexpensive?
Efficient?
Inexhaustible?
Safe?
I'm all for innovative breakthroughs.
I hope the technical advances continue and everyone can benefit.
re: “Solar is viable with todays tech except for two glaring things. Storage cost and night. Without superconductivity a ..”
You’re going to have much in the way of “stranded” assets AKA stranded costs taking that route.
Sounds like you’re still wedded to big-plant, central generation with transmission and distribution networks, albeit with “superconductivity”.
Hydrino tech and local generation is going to take its toll on those assets ...
I take it you’ve NOT reviewed the material at those link I provided above (how could you- its only been minutes ago!) ... it took me a year of researching, looking, reading white papers, reviewing the experimental techniques used to verify Mills’ work, so, I’m not expecting you’d grasp the big picture in just a couple minutes.
And, if you have no technical background, well, that’s another thing entirely.
Which is dihydrogen monoxide, which is a CHEMICAL!!!!!
So in comparison, the methane produced by farting cows is a wash and the government just is trying to push the blame onto us for using food and energy that already has a neutral carbon footprint?!!?
I am very familiar with zero point energy theory. Show me a way to harvest the energy from space (h x w x l) and I am all in. So far I have not seen a way that works. 10 to the -9 joules per cubic meter is hard to harvest.
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