AndyH
Well-known member
Stoaty said:How much does this electrolyzer cost? Where can I buy one?AndyH said:The Hyundai Tucson stores H2 at 700 bar/10K PSI. If one has this vehicle, a rooftop PV array, and the microwave-sized electrolyzer
http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/progress05/xi_13_jackson.pdf
The US company I found was Avalence in CT. We also found high-pressure electrolyzers under development in Germany, Russia, and Switzerland. Wikipedia says Mitubishi's also involved. Most of the DoE work appears to have been in the 2004/2007 period. There was at least one PV-H2 refueling station in operation in 2008 in Detroit: [edit: Avalence hardware - see powerpoint below] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319908003248 SunHydro's CT filling station was operating in 2010. While SunHydro was another company working on/with high-pressure electrolyzers, I don't know exactly how their filling station is configured. [edit: Appears to be Avalence tech - see Powerpoint below] http://www.cnet.com/news/sunhydro-opens-solar-hydrogen-refueling-station-in-ct/
Avalence's device is NOT a PEM - it's an alkaline electrolyzer.
http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/review05/pd26_ibrahim.pdf
My guess is that cost will be high until there's some volume, as are current FCEV.
edit...
Sorry - looks like the Avalence LLC website is unavailable. According to a number of DoE reports, their high-pressure alkaline electrolyzers use less energy than other types of equipment, and is capable of directly filling a 10K PSI/70 bar without a high pressure pump. They were commercially available in 2004.
2004 NREL summary
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/36705.pdf
Avalence Powerpoint slides from an April 2009 presentation - note the experience with both distributed H2 production and filling stations.
http://www.granitestatecleancities.nh.gov/stakeholders/documents/20090403_avalence_gsccc_mtg.pdf
More on Avalence - includes some background info and shows how efficiency increases at higher output pressure without mechanical compression.
http://www.hfcletter.com/issues/XX_1/stories/287-1.html
But as pressure increases, the bubbles become smaller, and efficiency increases again, typically about 2% better at 2,500 psi than at 250 psi. At pressures greater than 2,000 psi, the overall efficiency is about 10-15% higher than what is achievable with conventional electrolyzers teamed with compressors, says CEO Moss.
“It’s not a lot different than how we did it in the mid-sixties,” says Jackson. He explains the entire technology is an offshoot of know-how originally developed by Avalence’s two parent companies, Gas Equipment Engineering Corp. (GEEC), and Electric Heating Equipment Company. Electric Heating has been producing industrial low-pressure hydrogen generating equipment for 70 years...GEEC began developing highly reliable high-pressure oxygen generation equipment for the U.S. Navy’s nuclear aircraft carriers almost 40 years ago to produce liquid oxygen for the breathing supply of Navy carrier pilots. GEEC equipment is still used today in almost all of the Navy’s active nuclear carriers.
edits...additional content and links; corrected Avalence electrolyzer tech - alkaline not PEM.