Scientists develop reactor for the cost-effective production of hydrogen

For the first time, a team of scientists has developed a reactor that produces a significant amount of hydrogen using sustainable sources like sunlight and water, which is an inexpensive and sustainable process, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said on Wednesday.

The development of large-scale prototype reactors with photocatalysts (suspended powders) and their successful use in large-scale hydrogen production are in progress, according to a statement.

The development is gaining momentum as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of a national hydrogen mission during his Independence Day speech to accelerate plans to produce the carbon-free fuel from renewable energy when he set the target for the country by 2047, reaching oneself – energy dependence.

India has set a target of 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. To achieve this, researchers are working on solutions for renewable energy that should be sustainable and have a limited carbon footprint.

One of the most economical ways to achieve this is the large-scale production of hydrogen by photocatalytic water splitting. It is the long-term, stable solution for the growing need for renewable energies and a cost-effective economic process from which society will benefit in the long term.

Therefore, a considerable effort by scientists to achieve this goal is extremely necessary and an urgent need of the hour.

In this direction, Dr. Kamalakannan Kailasam and his team, including Professor Ashok K. Ganguli, Dr. Vivek Bagchi, Dr. Sanyasinaidu Boddu, Dr. Prakash PN and Dr. Menaka Jha from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, is developing a prototype reactor that produces hydrogen on a larger scale under natural sunlight (around 6.1 liters in eight hours).

They used a chemical abundant in the earth called carbon nitride as a catalyst for this purpose.

The process has been tried many times by several researchers using complex heterogeneous systems based on metal oxide or nitride or sulfide, but it has been very difficult to reproduce hydrogen in large quantities.

The INST team used the inexpensive organic semiconductor in carbon nitrides, which can be easily manufactured on a kilogram scale using cheaper precursors such as urea and melamine.

When sunlight falls on this semiconductor, electrons and holes are created.

The electrons reduce the protons to create hydrogen, and the holes are consumed by some chemical agent called sacrificial agents. When the holes are not consumed, they recombine with the electrons.

This work is supported by the DST Nano Mission NATDP project and the related article was recently published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. The team is in the process of obtaining a patent for the technology.

The INST team has been working in this area of ​​photocatalytic water splitting to generate hydrogen for some time.

“The energy crisis and the ever-threatening climate crisis have urged us to work on this promising way of producing hydrogen through photocatalytic water splitting. The stability and chemical flexibility of various organic groups in carbon nitrides has led us to work on these inexpensive organic semiconductor materials for sustainable hydrogen production, “said Dr. Kamalakannan.

The INST team started developing the photocatalyst and producing hydrogen through a large prototype reactor from laboratory scale to large scale.

The team is in the process of optimizing hydrogen production with effective hours of sunshine, in addition to the purity of the hydrogen, moisture traps and gas separation membranes to connect to the fuel cells.

Hydrogen produced this way can be used in a variety of ways, such as generating electricity from fuel cells in remote tribal areas, hydrogen ovens, and powering small appliances, to name a few. After all, they can power transformers and e-vehicles, which it says are long-term research goals that are in the works.

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