Introduction

The HYDROSOL project has developed a method of producing hydrogen from water-splitting, using the energy of the sun, which could lead to environmentally friendly production of hydrogen for energy purposes.

Objectives and target audience

Project’s objectives: Hydrogen is considered by many to be the next link in the evolution of energy, after nuclear energy. A new chemical engineering process hopes to make the ‘hydrogen economy’ a reality.

Target audience: The production of purely renewable, solar hydrogen from the HYDROSOL process, creates new opportunities for countries in Southern Europe that can become local producers of energy and offers a new energy future to many poor regions of the world, which have a large solar potential.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The research project was financed by the European Commission.
The project’s achievement was only made possible through the cooperation of four teams from complementary engineering fields of study and application. Co-ordinated by the Greek Aerosol and Particle Technologies Laboratory, the consortium consisted of; the German Aerospace Centre, Stobbe Technical Ceramics from Denmark and Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells from the UK.

Process

The concept and the planning of the process for the production of hydrogen in a monolithic reactor by using solar energy originated from the Greek Aerosol and Particle Technologies Laboratory.
The Danish company “Stobbe Technical Ceramics” constructed the ceramic sub layers.
The British company “Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells” implemented the coating of the ceramic sub layers on an industrial scale – the nano materials being synthesized by the Greek team.
The German Aerospace Centre was responsible for the construction and installation of the complete system at its solar furnace.

Results

• Active mixed-oxide redox nano-materials synthesized via Aerosol and Combustion techniques having achieved conversion of water to H2 of 80% at T=800oC and quantitative regeneration at T=1100oC.

• Successful coating of the redox materials upon ceramic monoliths capable of absorbing solar radiation.

• Integration of monolithic honeycomb reactors into solar energy concentration systems and “proof-of-concept” demonstration: for the first time solar-aided Hydrogen production was achieved on a monolithic honeycomb reactor that is currently performing cyclic water splitting – regeneration cycles at temperature levels between 800 – 1100 oC having achieved up to 40 operation cycles.

The Hydrosol project has come up with an innovative way of extracting hydrogen from water through the use of a novel solar hydrogen production reactor, which produces practically zero carbon dioxide emissions and uses only solar energy and water.  It is estimated that the cost of hydrogen produced in this way could be competitive within a decade, with non-renewable hydrogen currently produced from natural gas, attracting additional costs, for example, through emissions taxes.
An equally significant achievement is the revival in the field of Chemical Engineering that Solar Hydrogen Chemical Technology promises to bring about.
The integration of solar energy concentration systems with systems capable to split water will have an immense impact on energy economics worldwide, as it is a promising route to provide affordable, renewable solar hydrogen with virtually zero CO2 emissions.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The Hydrosol project was awarded an International Global 100 Eco-tech award in 2005 and a Technical Achievement award from the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy in 2006.
The trans-national HYDROSOL research team was awarded the European Commission’s 2006 Descartes Prize for Scientific Collaborative Research for its outstanding scientific & technological results through collaborative research.

The implementation of the research results demands an innovative and brave business approach in the future.