Gizmos & Gadgets: Electrolyser Generates Green Hydrogen

September 7, 2019 – Harvesting hydrogen from water rather than natural gas represents what could conceivably move the planet from a fossil-fuel economy to one based on the lightest element in the periodic table. A Berlin, Germany-based company, Enapter GmbH, has been pursuing the development of a scalable hydrogen generator and storage system for use in residential and commercial applications as a total green energy solution when combined with solar or wind power. The patented technology featured is the Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) which harvests hydrogen from water.

The AEM is installed in a modular unit called the Electrolyser 2.0, (EL2). Each unit takes tap or rainwater and splits it into oxygen and hydrogen. The latter is then pressurized and stored to supplement electricity generated by intermittent renewable sources. Enapter’s latest showcase is a residential installation at the home of Arno Tilsner, a magazine publisher who has been living off-the-grid since 2012. Tilsner uses solar panels on the roof of his home to power up his electric vehicles. The acquisition of the EL2 is Tilsner’s use case validation of the technology and a showcase which he is writing about weekly in his magazine. The on-site energy system is equipped with 5 Kwh solar panels which generate electricity throughout the day. Excess energy produces 500 liters of hydrogen per hour which can then be converted back into electricity through a fuel cell.

Tilsner calls hydrogen “the stuff of the century, the universal building block of the post-coal-oil-gas era.” He is not wrong in making this claim. The hydrogen problem, however, is seen as multi-faceted. First there is the perception of its volatility. Hydrogen was used by the Hindenburg, the German zeppelin that caught fire and burned back in 1937. Liquid hydrogen fuel combined with liquid oxygen powered the Saturn 5 rocket during the Apollo Program.

And then there is the challenge of producing hydrogen gas economically. To date, it takes more energy input to produce hydrogen than the energy gained from the harvested gas. Electrolysis from water has always been seen as cost-prohibitive when compared to harvesting the gas from fossil fuel sources. But the problem of hydrogen extraction from fossil fuels ends up defeating the whole idea of the gas as a green fuel.

The El2 changes the economics of hydrogen generation from water. It is stackable. Starting with a single 500-liter module it can be expanded to a stack that can handle up to 10,000 liters per hour. As Tilsner describes his experience to readers of his magazine, he may begin to convince more potential customers to adopt the technology. That is already happening with installations in 26 countries around the world providing grid-independent energy storage in remote areas, seasonal energy storage in extreme environments, industrial on-site hydrogen generation, backup power for telecom providers, and hydrogen fuel for mobile applications.