{"id":14321,"date":"2021-12-05T13:39:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T20:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=14321"},"modified":"2021-12-05T13:39:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T20:39:55","slug":"hydrogen-harvested-from-dirty-clean-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/hydrogen-harvested-from-dirty-clean-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydrogen harvested from Dirty and Clean Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists working in England and Belgium have come up with low-cost ways to harvest hydrogen from either very dirty water or from the air around us.\u00a0 If these breakthrough technologies pan out, they could set us on a different path to energy independence – and even clean water for everyone.<\/p>\n

Hydrogen is the futurist\u2019s dream fuel, non-polluting and emitting only water vapor.\u00a0 But it\u2019s been hampered by its high cost of production and sourcing from natural gas.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Stuart Coles with carbon fiber mat that squeezes clean water and hydrogen from the air.\u00a0 Credit: WMG, University of Warwick<\/p><\/div>\n

A “Two-fer” for the Future<\/h4>\n

Researchers at the University of Warwick have found a \u201ctwo-fer\u201d that cleans waste water and produces a clean fuel<\/a>.\u00a0 They note the following caveat and a promising development from their research: \u201cWastewater treatment is vital to remove pathogens, but is incredibly energy intensive. The ability to treat it more sustainably is a challenge researchers from WMG, University of Warwick have been able to achieve, using recycled carbon fiber mats to produce hydrogen from waste water.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new method would reduce energy use since treating wastewater in the United Kingdom accounts for three percent of the energy used there \u2013 equivalent to 13 billion kilowatt hours.\u00a0 This causes one to contemplate the enormous amount of energy required to run the world, estimated to total 160,000 terawatt hours (A terawatt equals a kilowatt with nine zeros.)<\/p>\n

Water and waste company Severn Trent asked researchers from WMG at the University to come up with a way to treat wastewater in more energy efficient ways.\u00a0 The school had apparently been researching, \u201cMicrobial Electrolysis Cells (MEC), [which involve] using electromagnetic microorganisms to break down organic pollutants in waste water, producing clean water and hydrogen gas.\u201d\u00a0 Normally, anodes used in the reaction cost hundreds of pounds per square meter and are not highly productive of H2, preventing large scale use.<\/p>\n

Recycled carbon fiber mats, however, cost only two pounds ($2.65) per square meter (10.76 square feet), cheap enough for industrial-scale use.<\/p>\n

The ability to return clean water to the Severn River and produce an energy storage material such as hydrogen helps the environment in a symbiotic way.\u00a0 Green hydrogen doesn\u2019t have the \u201cdirty\u201d parentage of natural gas and its attendant \u201cfracking,\u201d and acts as a clean fuel source in fuel cells, which emit only water vapor and warm air.<\/p>\n

WMG piloted their techniques at Severn Trent\u2019s Minworth waste treatment site, successfully processing up to 100 liters of wastewater per day and removing 51 percent of organic pollutants and up to 100 percent of suspended solids from the water while producing 18 times more hydrogen (at 100-percent purity) than the graphite material previously used.<\/p>\n

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Severn Trent sewage treatment plant at Minworth uses methane from sewage to power the plant itself.\u00a0 Other processes in plant could produce not only clean water but hydrogen as a fuel for internal and external use<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr Stuart Coles, from WMG, University of Warwick explained, \u201cWe are really excited about this technology. By taking waste from the automotive and aerospace sectors, we have developed a circular solution to a longstanding problem. Instead of just treating the wastewater, we are now able to extract value from it in the form of hydrogen at a lower cost than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next phase of this work is look at optimizing the design of the microbial electrolysis cells and further reduce the level of pollutants in the water. This in turn should help produce even more hydrogen!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Stear, Chief Engineer at Severn Trent added, \u201cThe performance boost and cost savings demonstrated from this research mean that MEC technology is one step closer to being cost competitive with existing wastewater treatment assets. WMG have also demonstrated that this technology has the potential to create a more circular wastewater treatment process which will be essential to delivering on our long term sustainability goals and Net Zero plans. We\u2019re currently scoping scaling up the technology at our test-bed plant in Redditch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, think of scale here.\u00a0 Severn Trent supplies water to 7.4 million people, and sewerage services to 8.5 million people over an area of 21,000 square kilometers in central England and mid-Wales.\u201d\u00a0 Add three zeros after that 7.4 million and you are close to the total world population.\u00a0 It would take 1,000 processing plants the size of Severn Trent\u2019s combined resources to clean the water and eliminate the waste for the world.\u00a0 Think, too, about the benefits from providing clean water for everyone and a clean energy source as an alternative to fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

The French, attempting similar efforts, even produce algae for animal feed in the process.<\/p>\n