Cheaper green hydrogen production planned

Hyundai, Kia and Next Hydrogen have agreed to develop an advanced alkaline water electrolysis system that helps produce green hydrogen economically.

The companies aim to develop a more efficient stack for the system and explore potential technological applications and commercial arrangements under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation with Next Hydrogen Corporation, a Canadian company specialising in water electrolysis technology and a subsidiary of Next Hydrogen Solutions.

It’s expected to boost their efforts to usher in a global hydrogen society through cost-effective production of clean hydrogen.

Producing clean hydrogen today is expensive and time consuming, the trio say.

For this reason they are looking to improve the price competitiveness of clean hydrogen in consideration of regional climate and environmental characteristics.

Among the various methods of water electrolysis, the alkaline water electrolysis system is regarded as technologically one of the most rigorously tested and proven means with a long track record of research and development. Also, it has the advantage of being able to produce large-scale hydrogen and using relatively inexpensive catalysts, making facility costs low.

The aim is to advance stack-related technologies that are at the core of the alkaline water electrolysis system to reduce the cost of building the system and maintaining/operating the system. The key benefit to be derived from the project is that by enhancing the performance of stack-related technologies in the alkaline water electrolysis process, it will be possible to develop a new stack which can be operated at high current density and produce green hydrogen economically, they say.

The newly developed stack will use Hyundai Motor and Kia’s component technology related to electrodes, bipolar plates and current collectors, combined with Next Hydrogen’s design technology. Hyundai and Kia will also oversee the test performance of the new stack with a pilot test planned next year.

“This partnership is another leap forward for our hydrogen business and will be our first step into the alkaline water electrolysis market,” Hyundai energy business development group head Jae-Hyuk Oh says.

Next Hydrogen president and chief executive Raveel Afzaal says the partnership is expected to accelerate efforts to address emerging opportunities in sustainable transportation globally.

“Green hydrogen” generates zero carbon emissions, produced using water electrolysis powered by renewable energies such as offshore wind, and it has the potential to revolutionise the world’s industrial and transport sectors.