Building the basis for the green hydrogen economy – Eindhoven University of Technology

Building the basis for the green hydrogen economy – Eindhoven University of Technology

Green hydrogen can be a foundation for the energy transition to a sustainable energy supply and chemical industry. That is the vision pursued by the National Growth Fund program Groenvermogen NL. As part of this program, the HyPRO project was recently launched, focusing on the production of green hydrogen. Being one of the 58 partners in this project, TU/e will develop new knowledge in four areas.

Source: EIRES / Sonja Knols

Hydrogen is regarded as an essential component in the energy and resources transition: the light gas can be used to store sustainably generated energy temporarily, and it can act as a building block for a chemical industry that is not based on fossils.

Groenvermogen NL, an innovation program receiving €838 million from the National Growth Fund, aims to establish a national ecosystem for green hydrogen and green chemistry in the Netherlands. The overall program includes seven work packages, which, for example, deal with transport, storage, and use of hydrogen.

Making hydrogen

Niels Deen, Professor of Multiphase and Reactive Flows at the Department of Mechanical Engineering,states :

But it all starts with the hydrogen production,

Deen and several other TU/e colleagues attended the so-called ‘sandbox’, a multi-day meeting where universities, knowledge institutions, government, and companies jointly shaped the HyPRO project.

From water to hydrogen

Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen with electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines is a logical route when thinking about hydrogen production, says Thijs de Groot, Associate Professor of Electrochemical Process Technology in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry.

Large-scale electrolyzers for water splitting have been around for a long time.

“However, up until now, they have been powered by a continuous source of electricity, such as a hydroelectric plant. When we talk about green hydrogen, we have to switch to renewable electricity from sun and wind. These power sources are variable: at one instant, you might have a large supply of electricity, and later that day, perhaps you have nothing.”

De Groot, says :

In the HyPRO project, one of the things we are looking at is how this intermittent supply of electricity influences the operation of the electrolyzer.

“What processes cause the degradation we witness when we frequently turn an electrolyzer on and off? And how can we improve the yield of the water splitting process?,”

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