Exploration and industry have recognized the potential of alkaline AEM electrolysis and anticipate a rapid technological innovation progress in the course of the up coming ten years. Fraunhofer IFAM and Sunfire, jointly with Canadian products associate Ionomr Innovations, are now launching the “Combine” analysis venture to apply the promising technological innovation on an industrial scale.
To create price tag-efficient eco-friendly hydrogen, industry and vitality providers need to have effective electrolyzers on a massive scale. Systems such as pressurized alkaline or superior-temperature electrolysis are presently currently being mounted in industrial environments. Another solution that shows terrific guarantee is the anion trade membrane (AEM) know-how.
AEM electrolysis combines the respective technological advantages of polymer trade membrane electrolysis (PEM) and alkaline electrolysis (AEL). Large electricity density, overall flexibility and substantial gas purity are features that AEM know-how has in prevalent with PEM engineering. In addition, AEM know-how is characterised by its inexpensive and non-essential elements – very similar to AEL technological innovation. Consequently, AEM electrolysis has the possible to established new requirements in the electrolysis sector concerning both equally functioning and expenditure charges.
Fraunhofer IFAM now also aims to validate these benefits inside the “Integrate” task. Together with the electrolysis business Sunfire and the Canadian partners Ionomr Improvements, The Nationwide Investigation Council of Canada (NRC), the Simon Fraser College and the University of Alberta, the business is collaborating to produce an AEM electrolyzer in the upper double-digit kW selection and to validate its technical feasibility below industrially suitable situations for additional scale-up.
At its Dresden web site, Sunfire will give a take a look at stand with an electrolysis cell to evaluate the AEM stack’s general performance. “With the ‘Integrate’ challenge, we are demonstrating our ground breaking strength and pioneering position in the globally escalating electrolysis marketplace,” says Sunfire CTO Christian von Olshausen. “We are happy to associate with large-caliber technologies and investigate partners and to strengthen our German Canadian collaboration.”
The two Fraunhofer IFAM and Sunfire have many a long time of knowledge in the field of electrolysis. Even though Sunfire as an electrolyzer manufacturer has its principal competence in electrolysis systems and method integration, Fraunhofer IFAM as a non-university institution focuses on applied investigate and the progress and qualification of products for alkaline stacks.
In the “Combine” job, the institute layouts and optimizes extended-expression secure, higher-functionality non-platinum teams of metal catalysts for use in dilute alkaline environments. In addition, porous transport levels (PTL) are optimized. When promising catalysts and a PTL have been recognized, Fraunhofer IFAM will generate electrodes that will be analyzed at Sunfire’s industrial test setting. Dependent on the benefits, the examination rig will be modified appropriately to be operational for very long-expression AEM procedure.
Clemens Kubeil, Study Assistant in the Hydrogen Engineering Section accountable for the venture at the institute, adds: “The production course of action at Fraunhofer IFAM will give beneficial expertise in managing electrodes of the necessary dimensions, so that no method has to be designed from scratch for upscaling on an industrial scale.”
Ionomr Innovations’ CEO Monthly bill Haberlin states: “Ionomr’s Aemion+® alkaline membranes getting applied in this software are resilient, extremely-steady and maximize efficiency without having the conventional high priced parts for water electrolysis – like iridium, platinum, and titanium, changing these with fewer costly materials, this sort of as individuals made by Fraunhofer IFAM. Aemion® enables for longer lifetimes in very essential environments, is designed with industrial purposes in head and readily available at professional scale, and importantly, does not use perfluoro sulfonic acid (PFSA) elements that are getting increasingly discontinued worldwide thanks to environmental worries.”
Considering the fact that Oct 1, 2022, the job has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and learning and Investigation (BMBF) for a few years. Hergen Wolf, Director Product or service Administration at Sunfire, emphasizes: “AEM engineering is at the moment only accessible in the single-digit kW selection and, hence, are not able to be made use of for huge-scale hydrogen assignments in market. Alongside one another with our companions, we will make the circumstances for transferring this promising engineering from the laboratory to industrial software.”
