Hydrogen

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There have been so many articles lately on one breakthrough or another regarding hydrogen as a fuel that I thought I would go ahead and create a thread focused in on that energy source.

New Tech Aims to Drive Down Costs of Hydrogen Fuel
May 23, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for extracting hydrogen gas from liquid carriers which is faster, less expensive and more energy efficient than previous approaches.

“Hydrogen is widely viewed as a sustainable energy source for transportation, but there are some technical obstacles that need to be overcome before it can be viewed as a practical alternative to existing technologies,” says Milad Abolhasani, corresponding author of a paper on the new technique and an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State. “One of the big obstacles to the adoption of a hydrogen economy is the cost of storage and transportation.”

Hydrogen fuel does not result in CO2 emissions. And hydrogen refueling stations could be located at existing gas stations, taking advantage of existing infrastructure. But transporting hydrogen gas is dangerous, so hydrogen needs to be transported via a liquid carrier. A key obstacle for this strategy is that extracting hydrogen from the liquid carrier at destination sites, such as fueling stations, is energy intensive and expensive.

“Previous research has shown that it is possible to use photocatalysts to release hydrogen gas from a liquid carrier using only sunlight,” Abolhasani says. “However, existing techniques for doing this were laborious, time consuming and required a significant amount of rhodium – a metal that is very expensive.”

“We’ve developed a technique that applies a reusable photocatalyst and sunlight to extract hydrogen gas from its liquid carrier more quickly and using less rhodium – making the entire process significantly less expensive,” says Malek Ibrahim, first author of the paper and a former postdoctoral researcher at NC State. “What’s more, the only byproducts are hydrogen gas and the liquid carrier itself, which can be reused repeatedly. It’s very sustainable.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953576


Other articles in the relatively recent past on hydrogen that I have cited in the general Energy and the Environment thread include:

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/950216
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... hydrogen

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Hydrogen Production Method Opens Up Clean Energy Possibilities
May 23, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) PULLMAN, Wash. – A new energy-efficient way to produce hydrogen gas from ethanol and water has the potential to make clean hydrogen fuel a more viable alternative for gasoline to power cars.

Washington State University researchers used the ethanol and water mixture and a small amount of electricity in a novel conversion system to produce pure compressed hydrogen. The innovation means that hydrogen could be made on-site at fueling stations, so only the ethanol solution would have to be transported. It is a major step in eliminating the need to transport high-pressure hydrogen gas, which has been a major stumbling block for its use as a clean energy fuel.

“This is a new way of thinking about how to produce hydrogen gas,” said Su Ha, professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and corresponding author on the paper published in the journal, Applied Catalysis A. “If there are enough resources, I think it has a really good chance of making a big impact on the hydrogen economy in the near future.”

Read more here:https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953602

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Researchers From Goethe University Frankfurt Develop New Biobattery for Hydrogen Storage
May 25, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) The fight against climate change is making the search for carbon-neutral energy sources increasingly urgent. Green hydrogen, which is produced from water with the help of renewable energies such as wind or solar power, is one of the solutions on which hopes are pinned. However, transporting and storing the highly explosive gas is difficult, and researchers worldwide are looking for chemical and biological solutions. A team of microbiologists from Goethe University Frankfurt has found an enzyme in bacteria that live in the absence of air and bind hydrogen directly to CO2, in this way producing formic acid. The process is completely reversible – a basic requirement for hydrogen storage. These acetogenic bacteria, which are found, for example, in the deep sea, feed on carbon dioxide, which they metabolise to formic acid with the aid of hydrogen. Normally, however, this formic acid is just an intermediate product of their metabolism and further digested into acetic acid and ethanol. But the team led by Professor Volker Müller, head of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Bioenergetics, has adapted the bacteria in such a way that it is possible not only to stop this process at the formic acid stage but also to reverse it. The basic principle has already been patented since 2013.

“The measured rates of CO2 reduction to formic acid and back are the highest ever measured and many times greater than with other biological or chemical catalysts; in addition, and unlike chemical catalysts, the bacteria do not require rare metals or extreme conditions for the reaction, such as high temperatures and high pressures, but instead do the job at 30 °C and normal pressure,” reports Müller. The group now has a new success to report: the development of a biobattery for hydrogen storage with the help of the same bacteria.

For municipal or domestic hydrogen storage, a system is desirable where the bacteria first store hydrogen and then release it again in one and the same bioreactor and as stably as possible over a long period of time. Fabian Schwarz, who wrote his doctoral thesis on this topic at Professor Müller’s laboratory, has succeeded in developing such a bioreactor.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953864

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Hydrogen Startup ZeroAvia has a Zero-Emmission Vision, but its next Plane is a Hybrid
by Mark harris
May 28, 2022

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) ZeroAvia has raised $115 million from United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, British Airways and Amazon on a promise to fly a zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell regional passenger plane as soon as next year. Now the startup has set itself a slightly less high-flying goal: building a hybrid aircraft.

This new experimental plane, which is under construction in California, is a 19-seat Dornier 228 that will have “a hybrid engine configuration that incorporates both the company’s hydrogen-electric powertrain and a conventional engine,” according to a recent press release.

ZeroAvia declined to tell TechCrunch why it had altered its plans. A hybrid system could reassure regulators that the Dornier can fly safely for tests, while the company continues to develop the world’s largest aviation hydrogen fuel cells.

The decision to build a hybrid plane follows a previously unreported statement from the UK’s Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) into the April 2021 crash of the moonshot project that caught the attention of investors: a smaller fuel-cell and battery-powered prototype near Cranfield Airport.

The AAIB found that the crash near Cranfield airport occurred after the five-seater Piper Malibu lost power when its battery was turned off, leaving the electrical motors powered by the hydrogen fuel cell. The subsequent forced landing severely damaged the plane, although its pilot and passenger escaped injury.

Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/28/hydro ... -a-hybrid/

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Green Hydrogen in India: A Pie in the Sky or an Unfolding Transformation?
by Sanjeev S. Ahluwalia
June 6, 2022

Introduction:

(Observer Research Foundation) For all the brouhaha around the hydrogen economy at Davos and the competition amongst the Indian ministries to garner a piece of the regulatory action around this future energy business, it is hard to find any authentic, consistent information on the state of play in green hydrogen (GH) from government websites of the concerned ministries.

Who is in charge?

Presently, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy appears to be the nodal point and has taken the lead. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is on the back foot, though Indian Oil Corporations have been researching hydrogen production from biomethane for years. The ministry regulates gas pipelines through which hydrogen, or its derivates, will be distributed and also regulates natural gas, the fuel with which hydrogen could be blended. The embattled Ministry of Coal, which has been relegated to the status of a sunset ministry by climate action, is correctly trying to green its product by establishing an expert group to propose options for the production of blue hydrogen from coal with carbon capture and use/storage (CCUS)—a worthwhile endeavour, considering coal will remain a significant fuel for India till 2045.

The Ministry of Road Transport is, oddly, promoting the use of GH for road transport, unmindful that business prospects limit the foreseeable potential use of hydrogen to only very heavy road vehicles and construction equipment and shipping and in disregard of the negative impact on the nascent ongoing initiative to electrify cars, two-wheelers, and buses. The Minister for Shipping has appropriately made encouraging statements, given that shipping needs mainstream global green standards to remain viable, even though just around 2.5 percent of global shipping is registered in India. The Indian Railways is sensibly continuing with its plan for 100 percent electrification with associated solar capacity being created in-house or contracted in.

Meanwhile, a production target of 5 million tons or more of GH by 2030 has been casually mentioned.

Read more here: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak ... ormation/

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‘H2Hubs’ Will Fuel American Hydrogen Production in $8 Billion Program
by Justine Calma
June 7, 2022

Introduction:

(The Verge) The Department of Energy kicked off a new $8 billion program yesterday to develop a network of hubs for producing hydrogen as a clean fuel. It’s a milestone for one of the Biden administration’s most contentious strategies for tackling climate change.

Hydrogen has the potential to slash emissions from some of the industries that are the hardest to clean up. It might replace coal used in making steel or fossil fuels that power diesel trucks and cargo ships. When burned, it produces water vapor instead of greenhouse gas emissions (although it can still contribute to nitrogen oxide pollution in the air).

The tricky part is that not all hydrogen is created the same way and can come with different benefits and pitfalls. At the moment, most hydrogen is made using gas. To make hydrogen from gas, methane reacts with high-temperature steam under high pressure. That process releases carbon dioxide, and then there’s the threat to the climate that comes from methane leaks across the entire gas industry. Methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

So, the Biden administration needs to clean up hydrogen production before it can use hydrogen to decarbonize other industries. The DOE laid out part of its plan to clean up that process yesterday when it filed a Notice of Intent (NOI), a document saying that it plans to announce a funding opportunity in September or October to develop clean hydrogen hubs, which it calls “H2Hubs.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides funding for at least four hubs; the NOI says the DOE is considering funding between six and 10 hubs to start its program. Of those hubs, at least one is supposed to make hydrogen using renewable energy. Another hub is supposed to power hydrogen production with nuclear energy. And, at least one hub should be able to show it can make clean hydrogen from fossil fuels by pairing it with technologies that capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions. But the DOE also says it will look for at least two hubs in regions with “abundant natural gas resources,” which could lead to more H2Hubs running on fossil fuels than renewable energy.

Read more here: https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/7/2315 ... llion-doe

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Double-layered Catalyst Shows Potential for Enhanced Method of Green Hydrogen Production
June 14, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Ang butter bread, made by layering butter and red bean spread, creates a new flavor by combining the softness of butter and sweetness of red beans. Hydrogen-generating catalysts can also create synergistic effects when different materials are layered with their unique properties. Recently, a Korean research team has developed a technology to enhance the hydrogen generation efficiency by flattening platinum (Pt) over the surface of NiFe-layered double hydroxide (LDH).

Recently published as a supplementary cover of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, this study was conducted by a POSTECH research team led by Professor In Su Lee, Research Professor Soumen Dutta, and Dr. Yu-Rim Hong (of the Department of Chemistry) in collaboration with Professor Si-Young Choi (Department of Materials Science and Engineering) and Professor Jeong Woo Han (Department of Chemical Engineering).

Platinum combines well with hydrogen and is often regarded as the best catalyst for hydrogen generation. However, because the water decomposition ability of platinum is poor, research has been conducted to improve this ability by combining platinum with iron and nickel hydroxide.

Professor In Su Lee team has already synthesized a sandwich-type hybrid material in which two-dimensional (2D) NiFe hydroxide nanoplates are sandwiched between porous 2D platinum nanoplates. This material was prepared via an inventive way of growing a platinum layer of ~1 nm on the surface of NiFe hydroxide with a thickness of several nanometers (nm; 1 nm = 1 billionth of a meter).

In this study, a method for synthesizing the platinum layer by separate thinning was used. This was done to overcome the limitation of the uneven growth of platinum layer on the NiFe hydroxide surface.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/955948

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Building the world's most durable hydrogen fuel cell
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-wor ... -cell.html
by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a new hydrogen fuel cell which is not only the world's most durable to date, but is also more cost-effective, paving way for a wider application of green energy in the pursuit of a carbon neutral world.

Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising clean energy option as they generate power by converting hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, with zero emission of carbon dioxide, particulate matters and other air pollutants that may cause smog and other health problems. Despite their environmental benefits and years of development, hydrogen fuel cells are still not widely commercialized. Their power generation depends heavily on an electrocatalyst—which is largely made up of the expensive and rare metal platinum.

Scientists have strived to develop alternatives by replacing platinum with more common and inexpensive materials like iron-nitrogen-carbon, but those materials are either proven inefficient in power generation or have poor durability.

Now, a research team led by Prof. Shao Minhua from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at HKUST has found a new formula which not only could cut down the proportion of platinum used by 80 percent, but also set a record in terms of the cell's durability level.

Despite containing little platinum, the new hybrid catalyst developed by the team managed to maintain the platinum catalytic activity at 97% after 100,000 cycles of accelerated stress testing, compared to the current catalyst which normally sees a drop of over 50% in performance after 30,000 cycles. In another test, the new fuel cell did not show any performance decay after operating for 200 hours.

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New iron catalyst could make hydrogen fuel cells affordable

By Cory Nealon, University at Buffalo
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-iro ... cells.html

For decades, scientists have been searching for a catalyst that dramatically reduces the cost of fabricating hydrogen fuel cells.

Such an advancement could lead to a green power revolution, with everything from laptops to locomotives running on a fuel whose only byproduct is water.

New research led by the University at Buffalo suggests that scientists are moving closer to that goal.

In a study published Thursday (July 7) in Nature Energy, scientists describe how iron can be combined with nitrogen and carbon to produce a catalyst that is efficient, durable and inexpensive—the three main objectives the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has identified for fuel cell research.

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Possible step toward cheaper hydrogen-based energy: Predicting performance of catalysts in fuel cells
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-che ... -fuel.html
by Wayne Lewis, University of California, Los Angeles

A study led by UCLA researchers could help accelerate the use of hydrogen as an environmentally friendly source of energy in transportation and other applications.

The team developed a method for predicting platinum alloys' potency and stability—two key indicators of how they will perform as catalysts in hydrogen fuel cells. Then, using that technique, they designed and produced an alloy that yielded excellent results under conditions approximating real-world use. The findings are published in the journal Nature Catalysis.

"For the sustainability of our planet, we can't keep living the way we do, and reinventing energy is one major way to change our path," said corresponding author Yu Huang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. "We have fuel cell cars, but we need to make them cheaper. In this study, we came up with an approach to allow researchers to identify the right catalysts much faster."

Fuel cells generate power using oxygen from the atmosphere and hydrogen. A key step in the process is using a catalyst to break the bonds between pairs of oxygen atoms. The catalysts that work best are highly active, in order to drive the reaction, while also being stable enough to be used for long periods of time. And for those designing fuel cells, finding the best catalysts has been a major challenge.

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Researchers Develop New Faster Charging Hydrogen Fuel Cell
August 12, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have developed a new method to improve solid-state hydrogen fuel cell charging times.

Hydrogen is gaining significant attention as an efficient way to store 'green energy' from renewables such as wind and solar. Compressed gas is the most common form of hydrogen storage, however it can also be stored in a liquid or solid state.

Dr Saidul Islam, from the University of Technology Sydney, said solid hydrogen storage, and in particular metal hydride, is attracting interest because it is safer, more compact, and lower cost than compressed gas or liquid, and it can reversibly absorb and release hydrogen.

“Metal hydride hydrogen storage technology is ideal for onsite hydrogen production from renewable electrolysis. It can store the hydrogen for extended periods and once needed, it can be converted as gas or a form of thermal or electric energy when converted through a fuel cell,” said Dr Islam.

“Applications include hydrogen compressors, rechargeable batteries, heat pumps and heat storage, isotope separation and hydrogen purification. It can also be used to store hydrogen in space, to be used in satellites and other 'green' space technology,” he said.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/961698 and here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-17120-3

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Clean Fuel Breakthrough Turns Water Into Hydrogen at Room Temperature
by David Nield
August 31, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert ) Hydrogen fuel promises to be a clean and abundant source of energy in the future – as long as scientists can figure out ways to produce it practically and cheaply, and without fossil fuels.

A new study provides us with another promising step in that direction.

Scientists have described a relatively simple method involving aluminum nanoparticles that are able to strip the oxygen from water molecules and leave hydrogen gas.

The process yields large amounts of hydrogen, and it all works at room temperature.

That removes one of the big barriers to hydrogen fuel production: the large amounts of power required to produce it using existing methods.

Read more of the Science Alert article here: https://www.sciencealert.com/clean-fue ... mperature

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New Prototype Device Harvests Water From The Air to Make Hydrogen Fuel
David Nield
September 7, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Hydrogen has huge potential as a clean fuel: it's abundant (mainly in compounds like water), it doesn't produce any damaging emissions, and it can also be used to store energy from solar, wind, and tidal sources.

There are challenges in producing enough of the stuff in a practical and affordable way, however. Splitting hydrogen from water can require complicated technology and also relies on pure freshwater – not something that's plentifully available everywhere.

Now, scientists have come up with a new prototype device that can harvest water from humid air, before splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen.
What's more, it's capable of operating in areas where the humidity – the concentration of water vapor in the air – is as low as 4 percent.

"In this work, we corroborate that moisture in the air can directly be used for hydrogen production via electrolysis, owing to its universal availability and natural inexhaustibility," write the researchers in their published paper.

Read more of the Science Alert article here: https://www.sciencealert.com/new-proto ... ogen-fuel

Read more of the published paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32652-y

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Mother Jones also has an article concerning the process discussed in the above post:

Your Home May One Day Have Its Own Clean-Hydrogen Unit
by Donna Lu
September 8, 2022

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Researchers have created a solar-powered device that produces hydrogen fuel directly from moisture in the air.

According to its inventors, the prototype produces hydrogen with greater than 99 percent purity and can work in air that is as dry as 4 percent relative humidity. The device would allow hydrogen to be produced without carbon emissions even in regions where water on land is scarce, they say.

Hydrogen is a zero-carbon fuel that yields only water as a byproduct when combusted. However, pure hydrogen is not abundant in nature and producing it requires energy input. Large-scale production commonly involves fossil fuels that generate carbon emissions.

The study’s lead author and a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne, Gang Kevin Li, said the hydrogen-producing device could be powered by solar or wind energy. A prototype produced hydrogen for more than 12 consecutive days in a monitored trial. “[For] one of them, we left it to run by itself for eight months,” Li said.

The device is comprised of spongy material with a hygroscopic liquid—fluid that absorbs moisture from the air, similar in function to silica gel sachets. The absorbed water molecules are then split at electrodes into hydrogen and oxygen gasses, a process known as electrolysis. “Hydrogen is the ultimate clean energy…as long as you have renewable sources of energy to electrolyze the water,” Li said.

Read more of the Mother Jones article here: https://www.motherjones.com/environmen ... e-panels/

For the presentation in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32652-y

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National University of Singapore Researchers Devise Revolutionary Technique to Generate Hydrogen More Efficiently From Water
October 26, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have made a serendipitous scientific discovery that could potentially revolutionise the way water is broken down to release hydrogen gas - an element crucial to many industrial processes.

The team, led by Associate Professor Xue Jun Min, Dr Wang Xiaopeng and Dr Vincent Lee Wee Siang from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering under the NUS College of Design and Engineering (NUS CDE), found that light can trigger a new mechanism in a catalytic material used extensively in water electrolysis, where water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. The result is a more energy-efficient method of obtaining hydrogen.

This breakthrough was achieved in collaboration with Dr Xi Shibo from the Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR); Dr Yu Zhigen from the Institute of High Performance Computing under A*STAR; and Dr Wang Hao from the Department of Mechanical Engineering under the NUS CDE.

“We discovered that the redox center for electro-catalytic reaction is switched between metal and oxygen, triggered by light,” said Assoc Prof Xue. “This largely improves the water electrolysis efficiency.”

The new finding can potentially open up new and more effective industrial methods of producing hydrogen and putting this environmentally friendly source of fuel within the reach of more people and industries.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/969347

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Funding Awarded for an Innovation to Recover Hydrogen from Waste
November 15, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) A team of experts at The University of Manchester led by Dr Amir Keshmiri have received UK government funding to work with Powerhouse Energy Plc - a world-leading company specialising in treatment of unrecyclable wastes - to help recover hydrogen for clean energy use.

This project will develop and validate a novel and inexpensive game-changing hydrogen separation technique that builds upon Powerhouse Energy's expertise in waste treatment and the international track-record of Dr Amir Keshmiri’s team in fluid dynamics and thermochemical analysis.

This potential breakthrough in advanced thermal treatment to recover hydrogen from unrecyclable wastes could make a significant contribution to achieve net zero targets and reduce costs compared to existing recovery methods – making the process potentially ”greener and cheaper”.

The rapid development and commercialisation of the invention will support ambitious clean energy targets – including the UK Hydrogen Strategy that aims to deliver 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

Read more of the EurekAlert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/971392

Read the UK Hyrdogen Strategy policy paper here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicat ... l-version

[Time_Traveller]

UK ministers float plan for ‘hydrogen-ready’ domestic boilers from 2026

Tue 13 Dec 2022 13.03 GMT

Ministers are considering requiring that all new domestic boilers be “hydrogen-ready” from 2026, as they announced £100m for nuclear and hydrogen projects.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has launched a consultation on improving boiler standards, and has argued there is a strong case for introducing hydrogen-ready boilers in the UK from 2026.

The government is examining options to replace polluting fossil fuel gas in Britain’s energy system and has offered grants for households to install heat pumps.

A ban on gas boilers in new homes comes into force in 2025, although uncertainty remains over the timeframe for the phase-out of fossil gas in existing homes.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... -from-2026

[wjfox]

SSE begins work on hydrogen storage cavern on Yorkshire coast

Sun 18 Dec 2022 11.42 GMT

The energy company SSE has begun work to develop an underground cavern in east Yorkshire to store hydrogen, aiming to stockpile the renewable source of power for when the freezing, windless conditions experienced in the last week occur in future.

The project will produce hydrogen using renewable energy in a 35-megawatt electrolyser which will be stored in a cavern the size of St Paul’s Cathedral located a mile deep at an existing SSE site in Aldbrough on the Yorkshire coast.

The hydrogen will be used to fire a turbine which can export power to the grid when demand is high.

SSE hopes the “pathfinder” project, which could cost more than £100m, will demonstrate the technology before bigger projects in the area which would require larger pipelines and infrastructure. The company hopes to receive government money for the project through a fund set up to support low-carbon hydrogen projects.

Last week icy conditions led to a surge in energy demand as Britons cranked up their heating. Simultaneously, a lack of wind cut the power available from windfarms, forcing National Grid to pay high prices to encourage operators of gas “peaking plants” into action.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... hire-coast

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New electrolyzer to split saltwater into hydrogen
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/01/02/ ... ogen/?h2fd

Researchers from Shenzhen University and Nanjing Tech University in China have developed a seawater electrolysis system (SES) for the direct electrolysis of seawater, without side reactions or corrosion.

The new method works via self-driven water migration to sidestep the need for a separate desalination process. The energy consumption is purportedly comparable to that of industrial alkaline electrolysis with pure water.

To develop the lab-scale electrolyzer, the scientists separated the two electrode layers with a diaphragm layer and then submerged them in a concentrated hydroxide (OH−) solution – the SDE. They placed a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane between the seawater and the SDE. They claim this design allows the biased diffusion of water vapor, but fully prevents the penetration of liquid seawater and impurity ions such as magnesium, chloride and sulfate.

“During operation, the difference in water vapor pressure between the seawater and the SDE across the membrane provides a driving force for spontaneous seawater gasification (evaporation) at the seawater side and the diffusion of water vapor through the short gas path inside the membrane to the SDE side, where it is re-liquified by absorption by the SDE,” the scientist explained.

[wjfox]