The Anonymous Widower

Utility Completes Testing Of Revolutionary Zero-Electricity Hydrogen Reactor

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Central.

These two paragraphs introduce the article.

Utility completes testing of revolutionary zero-electricity hydrogen reactor.

Utility announced at its 3rd annual technology day event, the successful completion of their pilot plant testing program for the H2Gen™ reactor product line. Utility is the only decarbonization technology company pioneering the eXEROTM technology platform optimized for hard to abate industry sectors.

Am I right in thinking, that Utility have developed a way of splitting hydrogen out of hydrocarbons by cleverly exploiting physics and chemistry?

This is the first paragraph on their Learn More page.

The Electroless Coupled Exchange Reduction Oxidation technology platform (eXERO™) capitalizes on both the advantages of electrochemical processes (which yield high product purity without the need for expensive purification steps) and chemical processes (which have comparatively low capital and operating costs, especially avoiding the losses of electricity generation and transmission). The eXERO™ technology platform is achieved by removing the external electrical circuit from an electrolyzer and instead driving the electrolysis reaction with the overpotential (voltage) that exists between different gas compositions. Similar to a conventional solid oxide electrolyzer, oxygen ions are transferred from the cathode to the anode through an oxygen ion conducting electrolyte. However, unlike a conventional electrochemical reactor, electrons are transferred from the anode to the cathode through an electronically conducting phase within the electrolyte, also known as a mixed conducting electrolyte.

In a section on the page, with a heading of Principles, this is said.

The eXERO™ technology platform is based on two streams which are separated by an impermeable electrolyte, and counter-exchange of oxygen ions and electrons. Thus, one of the streams undergoes reduction while the other stream simultaneously undergoes oxidation. Unlike traditional fuel cells or electrolyzers, no current is extracted or delivered to the reactor to drive the process. Rather, an overpotential can be induced by introducing gases of different composition at the anode and cathode the cell. Examples of gases introduced at the anode to induce an overpotential, relative to steam (water) are shown below:

This is interesting. Very interesting!

March 2, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Hydrogen | Chemistry, Decarbonisation, Physics, Utility