New electrolyzer technology makes a hydrogen energy wave
Hydrogen is the most promising secondary clean energy source for sustainable development and can be divided into grey hydrogen, blue hydrogen and green hydrogen depending on the level of carbon emissions produced by the hydrogen production process. Grey hydrogen is less costly but more polluting, while green hydrogen is the future direction of development as it is produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy and meets the "double carbon" requirement.
At present, the share of green hydrogen in hydrogen energy is less than 1% globally and in China, mainly because the cost of green hydrogen is higher than that of grey hydrogen. In the future, with the combination of wind power, photovoltaic and electrolytic water, and the gradual improvement of the cost performance of the electrolysis tank, the cost of hydrogen production is expected to go down further. Ideally, the cost of green hydrogen can reach 5.8 RMB/kg, which is lower than the cost of grey hydrogen.
Currently, the mainstream electrolytic water hydrogen production technologies include alkaline water electrolysis (ALK), proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEM), high temperature solid oxide electrolysis (SOEC) and solid polymer anion exchange membrane electrolysis (AEM). The performance of the electrolysis tank is directly related to the hydrogen production efficiency of the whole hydrogen production system and has a very important impact in terms of energy consumption and safety, so the electrolysis tank is the core of the electrolytic water process.