The hydrogen industry is one of the fastest growing industries in both transport and energy sectors. At present, many projects are underway around the world regarding the development of hydrogen production, its storage, distribution, as well as the use for energy or transport purposes.

2019 was a breakthrough year, this year the capacity of the fuel cells produced and used for the first time exceeded 1 GW. Many international reports predict that there will now be a sharp increase in the number of hydrogen fuel and energy installations.

The European Union has announced the H2Bus programme, under which 1,000 hydrogen buses will be implemented in European cities.

The number of active stations where you can fill up compressed hydrogen in the world has reached 340, in some countries the network of refuelling stations allows relatively free movement of cars with fuel cells. Many publications predict that the number of hydrogen refuelling stations in 2030 will exceed 25,000 globally. In the automotive industry, companies already offer 10 different types of hydrogen-powered cars to their customers.

The number of hydrogen cars will increase rapidly in the near future. In 2030, Japan predicts that the number of cars with fuel cells will exceed 800,000, while in China this number is expected to exceed 1,000,000.

Heavy transport also participates in decarbonising transport by implementing hydrogen solutions for buses, trucks, trains and ships.

In the energy industry, the main direction of development is micro-cogeneration based on hydrogen and the development of Power2Gas technology, i.e. the production of hydrogen using electrolysis and renewable energy sources. Widespread implementation of these technologies will make us truly "green".

HydrogenTech also participates in the development of this industry.

Due to its unique physical and chemical characteristics, hydrogen has been selected as the target fuel of the future. It will gradually displace conventional carriers from the energy market.

The progressive change in the structure of energy production in the world (increase in the share of RES, elimination of fossil fuels from local use) forces a remodeling of the energy system. Subsystems: EE, heat and fuels will be united through a universal energy carrier - which is H2. The introduction of H2 will ensure increased stability, high efficiency and reliability of the new unified system.

HydrogenTech’s DFC SOFC cell technology fits perfectly into the assumed scenario. The product currently under development (cell-based generator) enters a branch of the system defined as "Power to Power" intended mainly for the combined generation of electric and thermal power. Preliminary test results indicate that the cells we produce can be the building block of the "heart of the system" of - electrolyzers.

High-temperature fuel cells (SOFCs) are devices for electrochemical conversion of chemical energy directly into electricity with higher conversion efficiency (>60%) than conventional power systems. SOFC DFCs are environmentally friendly - during their operation, emissions of CO2, NOx, SOx and particulate matter are significantly reduced relative to conventional energy sources. During operation, they produce no noise due to the absence of any moving parts, and the ratio of the device's weight and dimensions to the generated power is very favorable. The cells can produce energy by being powered not only by hydrogen, but also by other fuels such as natural gas or waste gases. The byproduct of SOFC cells is high-quality heat, which can be received at temperatures as high as 500 °C. The total conversion efficiency can even reach above 90%.

The double-sided solid-oxide DFC cells being developed at HydrogenTech are based on an all-ceramic design with active layers integrated symmetrically on both sides - thus increasing the active surface area while reducing the cell's overall dimensions. The elimination of metallic interconnects used in traditional SOFC cells eliminates the problem of material compatibility at nominal operating temperatures of 600-800 ⁰C. Reversibility allows the cell to operate not only in power generation mode, but also in hydrogen production (electrolysis) mode.

One DFC cell with dimensions of about 60x40x12 mm allows to produce about 8W of electrical power. By connecting 5 to 30 cells in series in stacks fed with fuel from the resulting common channel, it is possible to produce 50-250W of power at 5-23V. The solution can be scaled up to clusters of higher power outputs.

The cells are protected by international patents in Poland, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia.

Fundusze Europejskie Inteligentny Rozwój
Rzeczpospolita Polska
Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju
Unia Europejska