science
Innovations in Clean Hydrogen Power
Aluminium plays a key role in a new proposed method for low-cost energy that is emissions-free.
10 February, 2017
Imagine creating a renewable energy source that is available in abundance, just from tap water.
That's what the team at H2 Energy Renaissance is working on, and so far they've seen success with an emissions purity rate of 97 percent, verified independently by at least three certified testing labs using the United States Environmental Protection Agency method.
The H2 Energy Renaissance team of PhD scientists from a breadth of disciplines has been working for eight years to bring their nanotechnology solution to market – and make a real dent in reducing carbon in the Earth's climate. It's not just tap water though.
A patented generator uses the water, aluminium, a small amount of chemical catalyst and minimal solar-generated electricity to make hydrogen.
A patented generator uses the water, aluminium, a small amount of chemical catalyst and minimal solar-generated electricity to make hydrogen.
Image: HD Images On
The plates of aluminium are submerged in water with an electro-hydraulic shock applied. This creates extreme heat at the micro level, the company says, as the shock continuously destroys an oxide film on the aluminium. This initiates a chain of 16 chemical and physical changes that ends with the hydrogen being released from the water molecules.
The company says the process is safe – the generator never exceeds 65.6 Celsius – and very inexpensive. The materials costs become even lower when the used aluminium is recycled, continuing the "green power" of the process into future material lives.
The numbers are impressive. For every 0.45 kilograms of aluminum, 0.91 kilograms of nano-reactors are created and over 2.5 kilograms of hydrogen is produced. The USD$40 of outputs costs just USD$1.5 to manufacture. The high margins allow hydrogen pricing to undercut fossil fuels by up to 90 percent.
The numbers are impressive. For every 0.45 kilograms of aluminum, 0.91 kilograms of nano-reactors are created and over 2.5 kilograms of hydrogen is produced. The USD$40 of outputs costs just USD$1.5 to manufacture. The high margins allow hydrogen pricing to undercut fossil fuels by up to 90 percent.
Images: Hydrogen Renaissance
"The generator is a source of fuel. It can be used at the location electricity or fuel is needed," explains the H2 team, headed up by president and lead researcher Jack Aganyan. "It can be put on a car, bus, truck, ship, boat or train or any other transport. It can also be used in a backyard of a house, on a farm, a roof of a building, or at any industrial site, practically anywhere electricity is needed."
Images: Hydrogen Renaissance
The goal is as impressive as the company's numbers are. Hydrogen, delivered by the H2 Energy Renaissance process, can replace coal, gasoline, diesel, natural gas and nuclear power.
There are still some unknowns though. For one, as Engineering.com points out, the company did not disclose the rate of aluminum consumption in the process, nor the grade of aluminum required. The cost of the unknown chemical catalyst remains a variable too.
Yet the potential is exciting, the H2 Energy Renaissance team is exceptionally talented and their work is as sophisticated as it is simple. The company is already seeing some payoff on its audacious venture too.
"We know where this technology is applicable today; we have requests to fulfill orders that will generate $500 million in revenue in a few years and make India, China, the Americas, Europe and Japan much cleaner and end climate change," says CEO Kirill Gichunts. Based in Ukraine, his own background is in top-tier finance and technology investment, and his entrepreneurial spirit gravitates toward the H2 goal.
The company plans to have the generator on the market within two years, with a business model based on licensing agreements with large companies – auto industry OEMs, for example – to make H2 Energy Renaissance power widely available.
Yet the potential is exciting, the H2 Energy Renaissance team is exceptionally talented and their work is as sophisticated as it is simple. The company is already seeing some payoff on its audacious venture too.
"We know where this technology is applicable today; we have requests to fulfill orders that will generate $500 million in revenue in a few years and make India, China, the Americas, Europe and Japan much cleaner and end climate change," says CEO Kirill Gichunts. Based in Ukraine, his own background is in top-tier finance and technology investment, and his entrepreneurial spirit gravitates toward the H2 goal.
The company plans to have the generator on the market within two years, with a business model based on licensing agreements with large companies – auto industry OEMs, for example – to make H2 Energy Renaissance power widely available.
Image: Hydrogen Renaissance
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