Energy from hydrogen

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The production of low- or zero-carbon hydrogen will be a cornerstone of a new greener energy system for the UK. Production of low-carbon hydrogen is one of the key elements of the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution published by the UK government in 2020.

Producing green or low-carbon hydrogen will enable people and businesses to be able to use cleaner fuel for industrial, transport and residential activity.
Our research actively contributes to the efforts to move the UK towards a hydrogen economy.

We’re able demonstrate the production and utilisation of low- and zero-carbon hydrogen at industrial pilot-scale, which can then be tested further for use in real life, which helps companies to de-risk the investment needed to upscale processes a full manufacturing plant.

These facilities include: two hydrogen electrolysers for producing and testing green hydrogen, giving us the most capacity to produce green hydrogen of any UK university; a first-of-its-kind in the UK Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) for testing carbon capture and producing electricity which could help support a hydrogen economy and a sustainable aviation fuels testing rig equipped to test hydrogen for use in aviation.

Additional hydrogen production and storage capabilities

Thanks to our flexible, whole energy system approach, we offer significant hydrogen production and storage capabilities across the Translational Energy Research Centre and the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Innovation Centre.

We are able to produce up to 150m³/h of green hydrogen. In total, we can store 1500Nm3 of hydrogen in two facilities operated at 30 bar and 200 bar (450Nm3 at 200 bar and 1050Nm3 at 30 bar), which can be distributed across both sites.

Partnerships

  • Glass Futures
  • IDRIC, supported by NSG-Pilkington Glass Limited, British Steel Limited, Siemens plc Industrial Automation, Breedon Group Limited, Tata Steel UK Limited

Specific areas of interest

Our particular areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Investigating optimal integration of hydrogen technologies into the low-carbon energy mix
  • Innovating new designs and/or materials to boost the efficiency and the cost-effectiveness of the hydrogen-consuming and generating technologies through numerical modelling and/or experimental means
  • Effects of composition of blended fuels (natural gas and hydrogen) on the efficiency of commonly used engines to produce electricity and/or heat
  • Optimisation of operating conditions to maximise the efficiency of production/utilisation of hydrogen fuel
  • Characterisation of porous media used in the clean technology of polymer electrolyte fuel cells
  • Numerical modelling of the electrodes of the polymer electrolyte fuel cells