In the field of alkaline electrolyzers, Gen-Hy, a French start-up providing innovative solutions for green hydrogen production, has developed new high-performance catalysts without precious metals with catalytic deposition on Gen-AEM® membranes.
This technological advancement has resulted in 85% more productivity than the current 65% market average. Gen-Hy is positioned as the most successful company in the industry.
There are several processes for producing green hydrogen, including electrolysis of water, that achieve high purity but at considerable cost.
The optimization of the hydrogen production process is a race towards efficiency so that hydrogen produced in this way becomes an ecological and economic alternative.
That is why Gen-Hy has developed a new formulation for a high-performance catalyst based on nanoparticles of nickel, an abundant and inexpensive metal. Gen-Hy replaces platinum and iridium, rare and expensive metals commonly used in catalysts.
The improvement of the process is associated with an increase in the contact surface between the catalyst and the water using a nanocatalyst deposited on the Gen-AEM® membrane.
Thanks to a unique application process on the market, Gen-Hy improves electrolysis efficiency and increases the amount of hydrogen generated for a 1 MW electrolyzer by 30%.
Gen-Hy is more than 85% efficient with a hydrogen production of 518 kg/day per 1 MW consumed while the market average is 65% yield for 395 kg/d of hydrogen produced.
These research results were obtained after 3 years of R&D. Patent filing pending.
With serious assets, Gen-Hy must succeed in his transition from laboratory to industrial hydrogen production with the construction of the AEM electrolysis plant in Belfort, to be delivered in 2024.
With such results, Gen-Hy is in a race to make hydrogen an ecological and economic alternative.
Cho Sébastien Le Pollès, President of Gen-Hy
Learn about catalysis in water electrolysis: There are several processes for producing green hydrogen, including electrolysis of water, which involves splitting water molecules, by means of an electric current, to obtain hydrogen and oxygen.
Most electrolyzers use catalysts, which improve the chemical reaction that dissociates water molecules, thereby increasing electrolytic efficiency. Catalysts help lower the dissociation voltage of water molecules during electrolysis. Therefore, the more active catalysts, the less energy we expend to produce hydrogen, and the greater the yield of hydrogen production.
These catalysts mainly contain precious metals such as platinum and iridium, which are rare and very expensive. Mining these rare metals is not suitable for ecological and economic approaches. For example, in platinum mining, it takes 1 ton of ore to be processed to obtain 3 grams of platinum. 1 kg of platinum costs about €29,000 (x2 for 10 years), 1 kg of iridium oxide is about €200,000 (x10 for 1 year). However, in acidic media, for a 1 MW electrolyzer, 1 gram of platinum and 2 grams of iridium oxide are required to obtain the same performance as that obtained by Gen-Hy.
About Gen-Hy : Since 2019, Gen-Hy has been designing and manufacturing energy solutions that incorporate proprietary technologies, capable of reliably, safely harnessing hydrogen energy and efficient. Gen-Hy provides hydrogen production solutions for mobility, storage, power delivery and cleaning of high-performance engines. 8 manufacturers of AEM membranes worldwide including 3 in Europe including Gen-Hy 2 worldwide manufacturers of alkaline electrodes including Gen-Hy More information: www.gen-hy. com
