Mechanical Technology December 2015

⎪ Sustainable energy and energy management ⎪

Hydrogen infrastructure, electrolysers MechTech visits the research facilities of the DST National Hydrogen Infrastructure Centre of Competence (HySA Infrastructure) at the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University (NWU) and talks to the centre’s director, Dmitri Bessarabov (right).

A ccording to Bessarabov, Hy- drogen South Africa (HySA) is a national special flagship programme conceived some seven years ago. “The overall goal is to develop and guide innovation along the value chain of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in South Africa, in support of the beneficiation of South Africa’s mineral wealth, with a specific focus on platinum group metals (PGMs). “South Africa has large deposits of PGMs and is a key processor of the raw materials containing these metals. About 70% of the platinium used in the world is mined here, and the metal is used exten- sively for catalytic converters in the global automotive industry,” he says, adding that, as well as for catalytic converters, PGMs such as platinum and iridium are used as catalysts in water electrolysers and hydrogen fuel cells. As a national programme, HySA is hosted at a number of state-owned in- stitutions around the country, which are responsible for providing facilities and equipment. “The HySA Infrastructure

centre of competence is hosted by two organisations, the Potchefstroom campus of NWU, and the CSIR in Pretoria. We are responsible for development of systems and components for hydrogen produc- tion, storage and delivery,” Bessarabov tells MechTech . HySA Catalysis is co-hosted by the University of Cape Town and Mintek and takes responsibility for catalysts such as those in fuel cells, reformers and portable power systems, while HySA Systems, hosted by the University of the Western Cape, develops hydrogen fuel cell systems and the associated systems’ integration. “Each centre is involved in collaborative projects with each other, as well as taking responsibility for specifical- ly allocated technology areas,” he says. “Here at NWU we focus on efficient hydrogen production, which is strongly linked to the development and use of renewable energy: identifying new ways to use hydrogen; and, along with our colleagues from CSIR, developing storage and transportation systems to distribute hydrogen to where it is needed,” he notes.

Globally, some 60-million tons of hydrogen are produced per year with the petrochemical industries and ammonia producers as key consumers. “Sasol, for example, uses large quantities of hydrogen that it produces by reforming natural gas. But this comes with an environmental penalty, because of the amount of CO 2 emitted. “Here at HySA infrastructure, we are producing hydrogen from water using renewable energy, with oxygen as the only other by-product. We use neither fossil fuels nor natural gas to produce our hydrogen and we strive towards carbon neutral hydrogen generation,” he assures. At the starting point of HySA Infra­ structure’s hydrogen generation plant is

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Mechanical Technology — December 2015