How a new system can produce solar hydrogen and heat at the same time?

How a new system can produce solar hydrogen and heat at the same time

Hydrogen is a clean and versatile fuel that can be used for various applications, from powering vehicles to storing renewable energy. However, most of the hydrogen produced today comes from fossil fuels, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. What if we could produce hydrogen from solar energy and water, without any harmful by-products?

That’s what a team of researchers from Switzerland has achieved with their innovative system that combines a solar concentrator, a photovoltaic module and an electrolyser in one device. Their system can co-generate hydrogen and heat from concentrated sunlight, with high efficiency and power output. They recently published their results in Nature Energy, a prestigious journal in the field of renewable energy.

The system works by using a parabolic dish to focus sunlight onto a reactor unit that contains a triple-junction solar cell and a polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyser. The solar cell converts part of the light into electricity, which is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in the electrolyser. The rest of the light is absorbed by the reactor unit and heats up the water stream that flows through it. This water stream serves as a thermal link between the solar cell and the electrolyser, providing cooling for the former and heating for the latter. This thermal integration improves the performance of both components, as well as the overall efficiency of the system.

a, Technical illustration of the overall site showing key components such as the solar parabolic concentrator dish, reactor and ancillary hardware and cabinets. 

b, Close-up of the integrated reactor showing the assembly of the shield, homogenizer, PV and enclosure. 

c, A simplified process and instrumentation diagram of the system showing material and energy flows. The key input/output/intermediate energy streams are composed of the PV-generated electrical work available for electrolysis, heat output from the heat exchanger and the external work required for water pumping. W and Q stands for work and heat respectively and sensors are denoted by a circle (T = temperature sensor, P = pressure sensor, H2 = hydrogen concentration sensor). Photographs of the system can be found in Supplementary Fig. 1.

The researchers demonstrated their system on sun at a pilot plant in Lausanne, Switzerland, where they achieved a device-level solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 24.4% (based on enthalpy) and a system-level fuel efficiency of 6.6% (based on enthalpy). They also produced more than 3 kg of solar hydrogen over 13 days of operation, with an average hydrogen production rate of 0.59 Nm3/hr (49.7 g/hr). In addition, they co-generated 10.6 kWth of thermal heat at an outlet temperature of 45.1 °C, which could be used for residential heating or low-temperature industrial processes.

The system is one of the most efficient and powerful solar hydrogen production systems ever reported, and compares well with other solar fuel technologies such as particulate photoelectrochemical water splitting or thermochemical syngas production. The system also has several advantages over conventional solar hydrogen production methods that use separate photovoltaic panels and electrolysers, such as reduced capital costs, simplified balance of plant, and enhanced flexibility and reliability.

The researchers identified several ways to further improve their system, such as optimizing the optical design, increasing the number and area of solar cells, improving the light homogeneity, reducing heat losses, and integrating electricity and heat storage technologies. They also suggested that their system could be coupled with direct air capture and gas-to-liquid technologies to produce carbon-based fuels from solar energy and atmospheric CO2.

This work represents an exciting step towards the technological demonstration and commercial realization of solar hydrogen production systems that can co-generate useful heat. It also showcases the potential of solar energy to provide sustainable solutions for our energy and environmental challenges.

If you want to learn more about this breakthrough research, you can read the full article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-023-00523-4

If you want to learn what is solar to hydrogen, you can read it hereSolar-to-hydrogen technology : Introduction

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