Coming Soon: $20 ‘Solar to Hydrogen’ Conversion System

November 29th, 2010 by Mridul Chadha

Sun Catalytix, an American company founded by a MIT professor, is working on a low-cost ‘solar to hydrogen’ power system and plans to launch it within the next 18 months. The product which was announced about two years ago has attracted millions of dollars in investment from the Indian industrial giant Tata.

The system works by utilizing solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is then stored to be used later. While there is nothing new in this technology, the way in which the the system does these things is completely revolutionary. The system can use water from any source, be it river water, sea water or even waste water. The company claims to that the system is highly efficient and is capable of powering a house with only two bottles of water from ‘any source’.

The conventional technology used for splitting water into hydrogen is costly as it requires extremely high energy to break the bonds between the water molecules. Commercially available electrolysis technologies are expensive as they use precious metals like platinum or operate at high pressures or temperatures making them practically and economically unviable for small-scale use. Professor Daniel Nocera, however, thought of a more natural way to achieve the same results. The hydrogen-splitting technology closely resembles the natural processes found in plant and bacteria. The system uses cobalt phosphate-based catalyst which operates at atmospheric pressure which is significantly advantageous when compared to the conventional catalysts.

The hydrogen produced can be stored in a secured container and can be recombined with oxygen in a controlled manner, in a fuel cell, to generate electricity. The water produced as a by-product can be used again to generate hydrogen.

Such power systems would be extremely beneficial for people living in developing and poor countries. Roof-top solar panels can be used to operate such a system. Thus, during the day power would be generated directly from the solar panels during the day and during night from the hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Communities living in rural and remote areas can also benefit greatly from this technology as it could lead to a distributed power generation revolution.

The Tata Group, which pioneers in low-cost technologies, has taken serious interest in the technology. In October this year, the Tatas invested $9.5 million in Sun Catalytix. According to some reports, the investments are actually much higher and sources claim that Tata Group’s chairman Ratan Tata is a co-owner of the company. In an interview to an Indian news channel, Ratan Tata said that he has immense interest in the new energy technologies like electric cars.

If the Tata Group launches the Sun Catalytix power system in India it could prove revolutionary in the Indian power scenario. The Tatas, through their joint venture with BP in TataBP Solar, are one of the leading solar panel fabrication company in India. Combined with their solar panels, probably financed with a soft loan mechanism, TataBP solar can market this energy system to millions of rural homes in India.

The final cost of the entire system would be higher than $20, owing to the costs of solar panels, storage equipment and fuel cell. But the cost of hydrogen generation would be much cheaper than the conventional technology which costs up to $12,000 per Kw, according to Prof Nocera.

Image: MIT

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Tags: Daniel Nocera, Fuel Cells, MIT, Ratan Tata, Solar to Hydrogen, Sun Catalytix, TataBP Solar

About the Author

Mridul Chadha currently works as Head-News & Data at Climate Connect Limited, a market research and analytics firm in the renewable energy and carbon markets domain. He earned his Master’s in Technology degree from The Energy & Resources Institute in Renewable Energy Engineering and Management. He also has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Mridul has a keen interest in renewable energy sector in India and emerging carbon markets like China and Australia.

Robert

If I am correct, current fuel cells receive the hydrogen from propane and then convert to electrical energy. I must assume then that this will replace the propane storage tank with a hydrogen tank.
I am also completely off grid with expensive batteries being in the loop.
Can this system create enough hydrogen to replace the batteries and more importantly, when will this be available for consumers?
- Anonymous
  
  That article is a year old, so we know that “soon” is longer than 12 months.
  
  A web search found no new/significant information about the company except that they were trying to raise money. That’s a bit concerning as money seeks good ideas which show promise.
  
  My guess is we off the grid folks aren’t going to benefit from this technology for many years, if at all.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4UST76UGA2MGSA4MXYX7XYMX3Y rcmansid

I like this technology if it can be scaled up to make it cost competitive with others.
I hope this is not another scam to rip off investors.
vincent

When is this technology going to be available for the masses in the US for purchase.
Paul Randall

What is the purity and potability of water produced as a byproduct of hydrogen fuel cells? If this device could be used with sea water then would desalinized drinking water be a byproduct of the energy loop?
Paul Randall

This headline is not misleading. An inexpensive way to break water into oxygen and hydrogen would be a boon for distributed solar electric. It will create new potentialities for going off the grid. Hydrogen produced by rooftop solar can power cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. No need for batteries.

Does cracking water also purify or desalinate it. Could pure water be a byproduct of hydrogen fuel cells? Now that would be something.
http://panchabuta.wordpress.com Panchabuta

With the success solar lamps are having in rural India even without subsidies at prices between $30-$60 and a return of investment for a solar lamp varies between 6 months to 12 months depending on the usage, cost of solar lamp and cost of kerosene/candle and this has led to solar lamps being used not only in remote rural India, but also in urban markets, street side vendors and semi-urban businesses. The impressive growth of companies like d.light where they have reached a million lives in less than 8 months is impressive and it is interesting to note that they are backed by the $7.1 Billion Mahindra group among others in India.
Tata will definitely be able to achieve the scale rather quickly. Detailed analysis of this and other offgrid solar markets are discussed in essays by Panchabuta in its detailed essays on Renewable Energy and Cleantech in India at :http://goo.gl/7i9P7
Chuck

I am not sure what is going on but up here in the northwest someone is running a TV commercial saying that hydrogen is not a viable fuel because it needs carbon to make it, we know that just not true there are many ways to produce hydrogen. I sure wish some one could put the public straight.
my name

Is “hugh pressure” in the same range of the pressure you apply when you hug someone? It’s pretty low.
- Mridul Chadha
  
  Yes it’s ‘very very’ low. Actually it is only slightly more than the pressure you would have to apply to click the link I mentioned in the third paragraph. Only in the order of 120 – 200 bar (that’s just 100 times more than the normal atmospheric pressure). Thanks for the spell check though.
Ken Trough

This is a preposterous headline. He is referring to a “module” not a “system”.

“The final cost of the entire system would be higher than $20, owing to the costs of solar panels, storage equipment and fuel cell.”

The “system” consisting of solar panels, storage equipment and hydrogen fuel cell will cost THOUSANDS (enough to power a house at today’s market prices.

Also, “The system can use water from any source, be it river water, sea water ” More nonsense. (from reddit) “Electrolysis of seawater would be hugely problematic, it involves chlorine/hypochlorite, used to advantage in offshore water sterilizing systems, but not a very useful by-product to have kicking around if you’re needing pure hydrogen.”

This “reporter” should be fired immediately for writing intentionally misleading headlines. I am offended to read this on clean technica.

It’s obviously false articles like this that give ammunition to the luddites who claim green tech is mostly just a money grab.
- Mridul Chadha
  
  Easy there. The complete power system would include several smaller systems — solar to hydrogen conversion unit, solar panels, hydrogen storage and fuel cell. This article concentrates only on the solar to hydrogen unit. And only in the end I move on to the entire system saying that while the cost of the entire system would still be higher, there would be significant drop in the cost due to cheaper solar to hydrogen converter. I did not make up the sea water thing, this was mentioned in Prof Nocera’s work available at MIT’s website. And next time try to understand the article thoroughly before using your ‘trigger-happy’ fingers.
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AndrewW

Could the author (or someone else) please try to make some sense out of this? Maybe provide some math? Is the $20 suggesting $20 per mWh?

In order for this to make sense it has to be economical. I’m not sure there is even a use for the resulting Hydrogen, but telling us in kWh what the cost is would be helpful. There are too many “alternatives” that simply don’t make economic sense. The goal is to be able to produce electricity for less than coal ($.08-$.10 kWh).
- Mridul Chadha
  
  We will know more about the product, its efficiency and its capacity as it nears its launch. The thing which makes this product revolutionary is that it closely resembles the natural process of energy generation, it does not use expensive materials to split water into hydrogen and that it can be used with any kind of feed water.
  - Bob Wallace
    
    When we “know more” would you please include some info on the state-of-fuel-cell-art? Based on the little I know turning the hydrogen back into electricity would be a budget buster.
    
    And some idea of how much it would cost to store the hydrogen.
    
    I’m off the grid and looking forward to a cloudy day alternative to a gas generator. With PV solar it’s feast and famine. Some days my batteries are topped up by noon. Other days I get no power. If I could store a few days of hydrogen for a reasonable cost (something less than a micro wind turbine) I’d be really happy.
    - http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_details.asp?individual_id=249158 James Yarger
      
      that is what the diagram is showing Mr.Wallace. It stores the hydrogen and oxygen that would be slit by electricity by your solar panels into two containers, I would imagine carbon fiber re-enforced pressurized tanks. It then push the gasses through the fuel cell, resulting in potable h20.
  - SKSHAW
    
    Who cares where the water comes from? If it only requires 5 gallons or less and the water is reused, it could be triple distilled and ultra high purity. The key here is the final cost (which will definitely be more than $20 per household) and longevity of the device (which may be 5-10 years). Those two factors together will determine the cost/kWh of electricity, which must be equal to or less than that of coal, gas, oil, nuclear, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass, etc. etc. etc. which range from $USD 0.03/kWh to 0.15/kWh.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  I have solar on my house making electricity at 11 cents a kwh. (SunRun PPA TotalPower plan) (no loan costs) so we are already there. I think coal is cheaper than that -not including its hefty health and environmental costs that they get to pass along in separate doctors, bankruptcy and climate change costs, of course!
  - paintitblack
    
    http://www.mei.gov.on.ca/en/pdf/electricity/coal_cost_benefit_analysis_april2005.pdf for an idea of health and environment costs.
  - http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_details.asp?individual_id=249158 James Yarger
    
    Yea, Yes! I agree completely. People need to wake up to the externalities.