Shell plans pilot hydrogen project using start-up’s ultra-efficient novel electrolysers

Shell is planning to build a pilot hydrogen project using a novel membrane-less low-temperature electrolyser that requires only 42kWh to produce each kilogram of H2, Hydrogen Insight has learned.

 

The oil giant has signed a collaboration agreement with London-based start-up Supercritical Solutions to move the latter’s electrolysis technology “towards a pilot demonstration in the field” through a “technology feasibility stidy that will support evaluation and planning of a pilot demonstration”.

 

Supercritical co-founder and chief product officer, Luke Tan, tells Hydrogen Insight that Shell is planning to build the pilot project itself.

 

The membrane-less electrolysis technology would represent something of an efficiency breakthrough for low-temperature electrolysers.

 

A figure of 50kWh/kgH2 is said to be highly efficient for low-temperature electrolysers, and only fellow start-ups Hysata and Cipher Neutron have promised higher efficiencies — of 41.5kWh/kgH2 and 41.75kWh/kgH2 for their novel capillary-fed electrolysers and AEM machines, respectively.

 

The only commercially available electrolysis technology with higher efficiency rates are high-temperature solid-oxide electrolysers, but they require the addition of waste heat to reach such levels. For example, Estonian manufacturer Elcogen’s solid-oxide stacks can produce 1kg of hydrogen for 33kWh when using waste heat.

 

“Supercritical's patented technology aims to address limitations in current electrolyser systems, targeting high system efficiency and delivery pressures up to 220 bar without hydrogen compressors,” the company explained.

 

“By operating at elevated pressure and temperature, the system achieves high efficiency and removes any dependency on either rare-earth materials or membranes that are prone to degradation and supply risk.

 

“Ultimately the design aims to lower the cost of renewable hydrogen and enable faster adoption as feedstock for chemicals and fertilisers and use in hard-to-electrify industries such as heavy-duty transport.”

 

Shell is an investor in Supercritical, having contributed an unspecified amount of money to the start-up’s £14m ($18.8m) Series A funding round in 2024.

 

Tan said that the new collaboration agreement with Shell is a “major milestone for Supercritical Solutions and an important step on our commercialisation journey”. Supercritical has released little information publicly about how its electrolysers work, but its filed patents reveal some details.

 

Instead of using thin separators like conventional PEM or alkaline electrolysers, the start-up’s design uses solid but porous structures that act both as electrodes and as walls inside the stack cell.

 

Water or steam flows through these porous layers, where electricity splits the H2O into hydrogen and oxygen. The tiny pores control exactly how the liquids and gases move, preventing the H2 and O2 from mixing while allowing them to be collected at high pressure.

 

The manufactured method for these porous electrodes are also patented.

 

Source:HydrogenInsight