H2 Power Systems, an early development company, thinks it may have found a way to produce hydrogen on-site and on-demand at existing fueling stations. The idea would be to place solar panels atop filling stations and use high temperature cracking of water to create hydrogen and oxygen.
The brains behind the operation are entrepreneur Nils Kongmark plus two physicist colleagues. This thermolysis reaction of breaking up the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen also requires H2 Power System’s selective membrane filters for effective gas separation.
Mr. Kongmark also has a bit of a different idea when it comes to using this process to fuel hydrogen cars. He suggests using both the pure hydrogen and pure oxygen generated by his process to fuel the cars saying that pure oxygen will degrade the fuel cell less than using oxygen from the ambient air, which is how most if not all H2 fuel cell car manufacturers are currently building their vehicles.
Kongmark says there are two benefits to his system. The first benefit is that his H2 system will have a small footprint so that it can be placed in practically any location. The second benefit is that his process takes less energy to crack the water into hydrogen and oxygen than other known systems.
But, the proof is in the pudding as they say for this English company as they are still 6 months away from a working prototype. And after this building a working commercial system will be another hurdle.
The science however does sound promising. If H2 Power Systems can build a solar to hydrogen on-site, on-demand device, this will solve the transportation and distribution issue that is holding back a quick rollout of hydrogen pumps to already existing fueling stations nationwide.
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