Hydrogen Production from Atmospheric Water Generation

The University of Newcastle’s atmospheric water generation technology, Hydro Harvester, was integrated with commercial anion exchange membrane electrolysers to produce renewable hydrogen. The water produced from the Hydro Harvester has extremely low electrical conductivity and can be used directly by the electrolysers without any treatment. The hydrogen produced by the electrolysers satisfied the fuel specifications for vehicular and stationary applications in ISO-14687-2 2019. To demonstrate the application of the process, hydrogen was compressed onsite from 35 bar to 200 bar, before further compression offsite and utilised in a fuel cell vehicle. Hydrogen from the process was also used as a feedstock for the production of renewable methane. The entire process, consisting of the Hydro Harvester, electrolysers, a gas dryer and compressor can be powered by solar PV, allowing a renewable hydrogen process to be deployed at almost any location.

Contact: Dr Andrew Maddocks
Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Catalytic Conversion of Natural Gas in a Non-Equilibrium Plasma Reactor

It is estimated world reserves of natural gas are of the order of 200 trillion m3, and the conversion of this resource to liquid products is attractive.  The vast majority of gas-to-liquid (GTL) technologies currently under development involve two distinct processing steps.  The first step involves the catalytic reaction of methane with steam and/or oxygen to produce syngas (a mixture of H2 and CO). The second step in conventional GTL technologies is the catalytic conversion of syngas to targeted products, including methanol, gasoline, diesel, waxes and a myriad of other chemicals.  We have constructed and operate a non-equilibrium plasma reactor in our laboratory.  During experiments involving the reaction of natural gas in the reactor, liquid products and hydrogen gas is produced. We have recently been able to control the yield and selectivity of reaction products through the use of various catalysts.

Contact: Professor Eric Kennedy
Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi/ Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Large Scale Printed Solar Modules for Green Hydrogen Production

The proposed green hydrogen economy is predicated on the delivery of huge quantities of low-cost sustainable renewable energy. While conventional (silicon-based) solar panels will play a role in the energy generation mix, their substantial weight (~20 kg/m2), low flexibility and lack of sustainability means that new renewable technologies are urgently required. Furthermore, with no realistic prospect for Australian-based manufacture, conventional panels present a serious energy security risk.

Printed solar is a photovoltaic technology comprising carbon-based inks printed at high speeds across vast areas using roll-to-roll (R2R) processing techniques. Economic modelling of balance of materials (BOM) and system (BOS) costs validate its long-term commercial viability in today’s energy marketplace. Unlike conventional solar, the all-organic nature of printed solar is 100 % recyclable: delivering a fully sustainable renewable energy technology. The ultralightweight and flexible nature of printed solar modules means that they can be manufactured on site and installed in locations that conventional solar cannot, such as the 100 million m2 of structural roofing in Australia that simply cannot take the weight of conventional silicon panels. For the hydrogen economy, printed solar provides a scalable photovoltaic technology that can be rolled out to deliver low-cost sustainable renewable energy.

Director: Professor Paul Dastoor / Centre for Organic Electronics

Sorbent Chemical Looping Gasification of Biomass for Hydrogen Production

This project is an experimental investigation into chemical looping-based biomass gasification for production of high-purity hydrogen and in situ capture of the resulting CO2 using a sorbent. The key innovation is the use of concrete and demolition waste (CDW) as the source of CO2 sorbent.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Ultra-High Temperature Gasification of Organic Solids for Synthesis Gas Production

The focus of this project is on thermal reforming of organic solids (e.g., biosolids, municipal solid waste, biomass, etc.) under an oxygen starved environment at temperatures around 1,100^oC. The process produces high-quality synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) with the minimum amount of nitrogen, tars, dioxins/furans and BTX (benzene, toluene and xylenes).

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Mineral Looping Tar Removal (MLTR) Gasification of Organic Solids for Synthesis Gas Production

This is a technology developed and patented by Prof Moghtaderi at the University of Newcastle. This invention relates to a method and system for integrated removal of tar during the gasification of organic solids (e.g., biosolids, municipal solid waste, biomass, etc.). The process improves the energy density of synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) by capturing CO2 in a carbonator. Also, at the same time, the carbonator functions as an ex-situ tar removal unit, where tar cracking occurs via catalytic reactions with lime.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Calcium Looping Urea Reforming for High Purity Hydrogen Production

This project focuses on utilising urea as a feedstock in an energy efficient process for large-scale production of hydrogen. Inspired by the chemical looping concept, the process offers an effective and highly efficient platform for converting wastewater specifically urine-based urea to hydrogen using mixtures of naturally occurring minerals such as ilmenite, dolomite and limestone.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Small-scale Demonstration of Green Hydrogen from Urea

This project is a part of a program of research and development aimed at small-scale demonstration of green hydrogen and electricity production from urea. The technology named Urea Power Pack (UPP) integrates a hydrogen production cell, a thermoelectric waste heat recovery unit and a fuel cell power block into single device.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi /  Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

A Novel Fuel Converter for Production of Hydrogen from Natural Gas

This project aims at developing a small-scale hydrogen generator for residential applications. The hydrogen can then power a fuel cell for electricity production. The generator uses the concept high temperature pyrolysis for thermal cracking of natural gas into hydrogen and carbon residues.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

PFAS Harvester: A Technology for Destruction / Resource Recovery from PFAS

This project is concerned with the development and advancement of the PFAS Harvester: a novel poly-generation thermal process for combined destruction and resource recovery from PFAS contaminated media. One of the specific products is hydrogen which could be mixed with carbon monoxide in the form of a synthesis gas mixture. The proposed research seeks to determine the fundamental science underpinning the creation of the PFAS Harvester and identify operating conditions necessary to support its commercial rollout. The project will pay special attention to field testing of a pilot-scale prototype of the technology using PFAS concentrates generated at an active remediation site. The project is expected to deliver the scientific building blocks necessary for development of the Harvester, representing a vital step towards an end-to-end PFAS remediation solution.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Solar Thermochemical Hydrogen Research and Development

The focus of this project is on the high temperature splitting of water, as driven by solar thermal energy. Water splitting involves both hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution, and in many instances, it is the oxygen evolution process that is kinetically limiting. In that regard this project is focused on the development of high temperature materials suitable for the oxygen evolution process.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Electrochemistry of the Hybrid Sulphur Cycle for Solar Hydrogen Production

The hybrid sulphur cycle is a water splitting process that uses the redox chemistry of sulphur as an intermediate. There are two stages to this cycle, both of which can be driven by renewable energy means. The first stage involves the electrolysis of acidic solutions of sulphur dioxide, leading to the formation of sulphuric acid on the anode and hydrogen on the cathode. Here we have carried out considerable experimentation associated with catalysis of the redox process, which is a leading cause of cycle inefficiency. This electrolysis can be driven by solar PV. In the second step sulphuric acid is thermally decomposed into water, oxygen and sulphur dioxide, the latter of which is fed back into the electrolyser. This part of the process can be driven by solar thermal energy sources. Overall, the process is a two-stage water splitting operation.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Investigate and Develop a Process of Producing Hydrogen using Photo-catalytic methods

This project explores options for the production of hydrogen using photocatalytic processes.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

A Novel Miniaturised Fuel Reformer for On-Board Hydrogen Enrichment of Gaseous and Liquid Fuels in Combustion Systems

This project is concerned with hydrogen enrichment of fuel in internal combustion engines (ICEs). While hydrogen enrichment of fuel in ICEs is known to improve engine performance (thereby reduce emissions) by up to 20%, previous methods of producing hydrogen have had large energy penalties and have not been cost effective.  Our fuel reforming technology under development is an attempt to resolve the above shortcomings by integrating the principles of chemical looping steam reforming and process miniaturisation into a unified platform. Chemical looping steam reforming with its inherent ability for carbon dioxide capture/separation would enable the fuel reformer to generate a pure stream of hydrogen and thereby avoid any fluctuations in the composition of the product gas stream.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Integrated Gasification Chemical Looping Combustion of Solid Fuels for Hydrogen Production

This project aims to develop a novel process for combustion of solid fuels (e.g., biomass, biosolids). The process incorporates an ex-situ step for gasification of the solid fuel. Unlike conventional ex-situ methods, the gasification process is fully integrated with the combustion process. This is achieved using a three-step chemical loop for the production of hydrogen, combustion of gaseous fuels, and regeneration of metal oxides that are used in the chemical loop.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Catalytic Conversion of Natural Gas to Hydrogen and Benzene in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) Reactor

Interest and investment in hydrogen synthesis technologies is accelerating.  It is estimated the world reserves of natural gas are of the order of 200 trillion m³, and the conversion of this resource to hydrogen and liquid products is an attractive technology.  The vast majority of natural gas conversion technologies currently under development involve two distinct processing steps.  The first step involves the catalytic reaction of methane with steam and/or oxygen to produce syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide). The second step in conventional hydrogen technologies depends on the water gas shift reaction, where the hydrogen concentration is increased.  The catalytic process the University of Newcastle is developing produces a hydrogen product stream which is free of carbon oxides, and the aromatic products we synthesise (benzene and cyclohexane) have considerable market value.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Hydrogen Production from Atmospheric Water Generation

The University of Newcastle’s atmospheric water generation technology, Hydro Harvester, was integrated with commercial anion exchange membrane electrolysers to produce renewable hydrogen. The water produced from the Hydro Harvester has extremely low electrical conductivity and can be used directly by the electrolysers without any treatment. The hydrogen produced by the electrolysers satisfied the fuel specifications for vehicular and stationary applications in ISO-14687-2 2019. To demonstrate the application of the process, hydrogen was compressed onsite from 35 bar to 200 bar, before further compression offsite and utilised in a fuel cell vehicle. Hydrogen from the process was also used as a feedstock for the production of renewable methane. The entire process, consisting of the Hydro Harvester, electrolysers, a gas dryer and compressor can be powered by solar PV, allowing a renewable hydrogen process to be deployed at almost any location.

Contact: Dr Andrew Maddocks
Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies