Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology request
- POD Reference
- TRGB20240607011
- Term of Validity
- 7 June 2024 - 7 June 2025
- Company's Country
- United Kingdom
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- UK hydrogen electrolyser technology company seeks specialist technology partners to jointly develop a next generation anode catalyst (minimising the use of iridium) for commercial Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) hydrogen production at scale. They seek partnerships through a commercial agreement with technical assistance.
- Full Description
-
The UK hydrogen electrolyser technology company was established in 2021. The company is a manufacturer of next generation green hydrogen systems for energy storage and clean fuel.
They have developed a significant improvement in electrolyser technology to make hydrogen generation stacks which are both cheaper and more efficient. Their patented catalyst innovation prevents hydrogen crossing through the membrane on an electrolyser. This means the company can safely make the membrane thinner, increasing the efficiency of an electrolyser, with the potential to produce hydrogen at a higher pressure compared to anybody else on the market.
To date the company has raised £6M in seed funding. This has allowed them to grow the team, and establish premises in the UK south west region and a demonstrator unit that is operating on an independent customer site (a full off-grid solar powered 250 hydrogen electrolyser).
The anticipated demand for green hydrogen systems is expected to be over 400 GW by 2030. The current installed capacity globally is still small, with approximately 1 GW in operation. Rapid expansion of electrolyser manufacturing capacity is envisaged in the next 5 years.
They have existing customers in Africa and Europe, with recent sales for 1MW electrolysers in both Morocco and to South Africa. They are currently expanding internationally to all markets globally, with particular interest in further expansion in Europe, the US and South Asia.
The company is looking to further innovate their current patented catalyst membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and their commercial electrolyser systems, by partnering with a material supplier and/or a technology development partner.
They seek partnerships through commercial agreement with technical assistance. - Advantages and Innovations
-
The company offers several innovations.
Firstly, they have a stack design that enables the use of ultra-thin membranes. This drives extremely high performance and thrifts on fluoropolymer use. The result is extremely efficient electrolysis, which reduces the amount of energy required to produce green hydrogen. This is typically full capacity performance at less than 50 kWh / kg H2.
Secondly, they have a stack design that is simplified, requires only low-tolerance machining, and is hence highly cost-effective and is manufacturable at very large-scale. This addresses both the high-cost barrier and the manufacturing difficulties that have faced incumbent electrolyser companies. - Stage of Development
- Already on the market
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Goal 13: Climate Action
- Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- IPR description
-
As part of the company’s iridium reduction strategy, they are seeking a low iridium stable electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution in a PEM electrolyser system.
The aim is to lower the cost of green hydrogen by reducing the use of precious metals in hydrogen production, therefore also minimising the impact of global mining.
This will likely be of the form of a supported iridium catalyst on a conductive oxide support, or a core-shell material, or a mixed metal oxide, but they are open to other formats from organisations that are innovating in this space.
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
-
They are seeking the following partners, under commercial agreement with technical assistance:
The company is open to working with both research organisations, technology providers and/or manufacturers.
The expectation is that the partner would supply the catalyst, and the UK company would test it in a commercial environment, in order to further improve the catalyst technology. - Type and Size of Partner
- Other
- SME 50 - 249
- SME 11-49
- University
- R&D Institution
- Big company
- SME <=10
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 04002002 - Hydrogen production
- Market keywords
- 06007001 - Other energy production
- 08001017 - Industrial chemicals
- 06011 - Energy for Transport
- 06010003 - Energy for Industry
- Sector Groups Involved
- Renewable Energy
- Energy-Intensive Industries
- Targeted countries
- All countries