A Q&A with Dr. David Hodgson, MD of TFP Hydrogen Products:
What are the main challenges that the Hydrogen industry is facing now?
The industry has gained significant momentum over the past few years in terms of how we unlock growth, strengthen the supply chain, drive efficiencies, and scale up this valuable resource. The main challenge at the moment is reducing the cost of green hydrogen production, so that it is competitive compared to alternative low carbon technologies.
The current high costs of hydrogen production have been recognised at government level and has led to initiatives such as the ‘Hydrogen Shot’ – a DOE initiative that seeks to reduce the coats of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade (“1 1 1”).
Are there any ways that TFP Hydrogen can help with achieving this?
The industry traditionally talks about PEM Electrolyser efficiency at Beginning of Life (BoL), however what we’re increasingly finding is that it is also important to consider the lifetime cost of green hydrogen generation – that’s where minimising the long term cell degradation rate has a big impact on the operational cost of an electrolyser over 10 years – or 80,000 hours.
For example, depending on electricity prices, a degradation rate of 1µV/hr increases the operational cost of the electrolyser by up to $128,000 over its lifetime, so any technology that minimises the degradation rate has a very significant impact on the long-term cost of green hydrogen generation.
How are TFP Hydrogen’s products helping to improve the cost efficiencies of electrolysers?
We have to accept that everything is going to degrade, but the thing we can control is at what rate it occurs, that’s where TFP Hydrogen high performance coatings come into play.
Our coatings for titanium components, such as PTLs, BPPs and meshes improve interfacial contact resistance as well as reducing hydriding and embrittlement and providing protection against other corrosion mechanisms such as fluoride attack. In lab test cells we’ve reduced the degradation rate by 7µV/hr. Over the lifetime of an electrolyser this equates to a considerable cost saving, of up to $900,000 per MW installed.
We’ve been developing coatings for PEM electrolysers for over 10 years and our customers are now seeing the benefits of being ahead of the curve, in terms of both improved efficiency and operational cost of their systems.
Is there anything else the TFP Hydrogen is doing to reduce the cost of green hydrogen production?
As well as improving efficiencies, there are other ways that we’re adapting to help our customers to reduce the cost of green hydrogen. Most recently, we’ve expanded our production into the US to provide a lean, short supply chain with local support for our US customers. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) anticipates that the U.S. electrolyser capacity alone will have to increase from 0.17 gigawatts (GW) today to over 1,000 GW by 2050. The new US line provides a blueprint for future TFP Hydrogen coating lines worldwide, supporting the electrolyser manufacturing hubs being established globally as the technology adoption accelerates.