In a major boost to Australia’s production of green hydrogen, a new trial using direct solar splitting technology has commenced at the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy campus.
Sparc Hydrogen, a startup founded to translate research conducted by Professor Greg Metha, is a joint venture between Fortescue, Sparc Technologies and the University of Adelaide, and is leading the trial.
The Sparc Hydrogen Advanced Research Pilot (SHARP) is a test bed for photocatalytic water splitting (PWS), a process that harnesses the sun’s energy to extract (green) hydrogen from water. PWS is often referred to as direct solar-to-hydrogen technology as it avoids the need to convert solar energy into electricity to split water via electrolysis.
Sparc’s patented PWS reactor technology enables photocatalysis, wherein the sun’s energy is directed onto a highly specialised photocatalyst material, which forms reactive sites that split water into hydrogen and oxygen without electrolysis.
If the pilot is successful, the university claims that it can be a roadmap to deliver scalable, low-cost, renewable hydrogen.
The need to develop direct solar-to-hydrogen capabilities
The efficiency of PWS is a key challenge to reaching commercialisation of green hydrogen technology.
The SHARP pilot plant aims to enhance the economics of producing green hydrogen using PWS by using modular and scalable concentrated solar infrastructure.
“The SHARP plant represents a first-of-its-kind demonstration and R&D facility globally for photocatalytic water splitting and is a key step towards commercialisation of the technology,” Sparc Technologies managing director Nick O’Loughlin says.
“In an environment where major challenges exist for hydrogen projects due to the high cost of power, the requirement for new solutions to unlock low-cost green hydrogen without relying on electrolysers has never been higher.”
Engineering and commercial service provider Incitias has supported the front-end engineering and design. Sparc Hydrogen’s water splitting reactor was developed at the University of Adelaide’s School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences and uses photocatalysts developed by Shinshu University in Japan.
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