Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SC3-O010 Invited Talk
RENWABLE HYDROGEN PRODUCTION AT GIGAWATT SCALE: AN
INDUSTRIAL VIEW
Joost Smits 1
1 Shell Technology Centre Amsyterdam, Long Range Research, Netherlands.
In the coming decades the share of renewable energy in the energy mix will expand
substantially in all parts of the world. This development is driven by the spectacular
ongoing reductions in costs of solar and wind energy. As a consequence, it is
expected that ‘renewable electrons’ will become the most economically available
energy source in the second half of the 21st century. Given these developments,
Shell has launched a Long Range Research (LRR) platform as part of its Technology
Strategy Refresh. This platform comprises programs focused on energy storage,
solar fuels, alternative outlets for methane and computational chemistry. Solar
fuels are internally referred to as dense energy carriers. Within this program,
hydrogen is a key component, be it for the production of ammonia, methanol or for
hydrocarbon fuels. It is also one of the most obvious solar fuels as it can be
generated water, either via electrolysis, thermolysis or photolysis. With this in mind,
it is crucial for Shell to secure a deep understanding of hydrogen production
technologies water. The direct, light-driven splitting of water into H 2 and O 2 is an
active field of research. This process is also referred to as photo-catalytic water
splitting, and is a form of solar fuel or artificial photosynthesis. Various approaches
are pursued for the integrated production of hydrogen the suns energy, ranging
photolysis, photo-electrochemical cells (PEC), photo-assisted electrolysis up to a
dual-device system, consisting of photovoltaics combined with water
electrolysis. This latter combination (photovoltaics with water electrolysis) serves as
the benchmark technology with respect to efficiency, balance of system costs,
operability, stability and safety. Current PV systems convert sunlight into electricity
with an efficiency approaching ~20 %, whereas the efficiency of water electrolysis
practically ranges 60-80 %. This implies that the overall Solar to Hydrogen (StH)
efficiency is ~14 %. Costs of hydrogen produced via this route currently range 4-6
$/Kg; this costs is dominated by the cost of electricity. Alternative approaches to
split water should, at least conceptually, be able to compete. The talk will compare
photo-electrochemical hydrogen production against this benchmark an industrial
point of view
Keywords: Photo-electrochemical cell, Solar Hydrogen, Electrolysis
Presenting authors email: Joost.j.j.t.smits@shell.com