Page 49: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2024)

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ELECTROLYZERS TECH RAMPS UP TO

MEET GREEN HYDROGEN DEMANDS omewhere on a benchtop in Brimsdown, Electricity makes up most of the production cost of

London, there is a lab-scale prototype that green hydrogen, and researchers around the world are try- can extract the platinum and polymers from ing to reduce that, but Johnson Matthey’s benchtop unit is

PEM electrolyzer membranes so they can be also representative of the fact that, despite new electrolyzer recycled into new membranes. technologies well past lab-scale testing, there will still be a

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Why? To reduce the cost of electrolyzers and therefore major role played by more established technologies such as green hydrogen. Electrolyzers use electricity to split water PEM and alkaline electrolyzers.

into hydrogen and oxygen, and to meet global expecta- Current technologies can be roughly categorized into tions for 2030 and then 2050, they must produce green two main groups: those suitable for use with intermittent hydrogen cheaper than hydrocarbon-based methods. They renewable energy like PEM, pressurized alkaline and an- must also be able to do this at scale. ion exchange membrane (AEM) and those suited to grid

MAy/june 2024 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 49