EPSRC : MATTHEW BRENTON : EP/T518098/1

In 2010 the UN estimated there were 1.5 billion people with no access to electricity. A lack of access to electricity has implications on health and wellbeing. For example up to 40% of these people rely on wood or charcoal for cooking which results in the release of toxic gases leading to lung disease which kills around 2million people /year. Micro and mini grids supplied by solar and wind power are an important solution to remote access to electricity. Existing research into mini and microgrids has established that for environmental reasons, it makes sense to include hydrogen as an energy vector to overcome issues with long term storage especially around diesel backup generators.

Presently, the most common production route for hydrogen is steam methane reformation. Hydrogen can also be produced through electrolysis of which there are four main types. The total cost including balance of plant is close to £700-£1000/kWe. Current perceived wisdom suggests today's electrolysers cannot easily be made cost competitive. A further issue with PEM and alkaline electrolysers is the elements used in manufacture (platinum, cobalt, iridium and titanium). Using significant amounts of these materials to scale up production goes against government mandates and common wisdom around needing to reduce scarce material utilisation. A state-of-the-art electrolyser is therefore not suitable for use in a microgrid from a cost, sustainability, or recyclability option, particularly due to a low capacity factor.

This research looks at using an alternative technology to the electrolyser to achieve this; the battolyser. A battolyser is a battery/electrolyser combined and is based on aqueous flow battery technology. Because it is pre-designed for battery functionality too, the electrodes may be more stable than those in an electrolyser. Flow batteries are being designed in scales of up to 100MW, 500MWh compared to Electrolysers at a planned 20MW and therefore there is good potential to scale up battolyser technology quickly once it passes early stage TRL hurdles. Additional advantages of a battolyser include the use of low hazard chemicals and the higher availability of materials used in manufacture. There is also additional potential to link into existing recycling facilities helping with long term sustainability planning.

As the battolyser is a single device which can produce both electricity and hydrogen it has the potential to be more economically viable than an electrolyser because of the multiple value streams. The researcher who will undertake the doctoral exchange scheme has been developing a low cost battolyser within the laboratory at Loughborough University. However, a laboratory environment is nto the same as real world conditions and many research fails due to the challenges of developing technology in the real world. This project aims to introduce the technology to Calgary - who are developing a new solar + internal combustion + flow battery isolated microgrid so that they can understand what this technology will mean for their system while at the same time informing the Doctoral student about the challenges that the battolyser may face under real world conditions and the scientific and engineering based adjustments needed to deal with this.