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Produce green hydrogen with solar panels to be able to research its compression, transport, storage and use. This is what the Hydrogen Laboratory and the green hydrogen production pilot plant that the UPC has just inaugurated at the Diagonal-Besòs Campus are looking for. It is a leading scientific facility in Europe that wants to help find the necessary solutions so that companies and industries can generalize the production and use of this energy vector that aims to be key in the energy transition.
Between research and the market
The laboratory has been in operation for a few months, has ten active research groups and has already started working with major companies that use the equipment to test real situations based on their needs. With strong confidentiality restrictions regarding these developments, we can mention the company QEV, which develops cutting-edge technology in electric mobility. They are generally companies that need a lot of energy to work or are linked to the automotive sector. All of them seek solutions and need research to innovate in their processes and components. In these beginnings, the laboratory mainly serves Catalan companies, but the international dimension of the research is already important. For this reason, not many days ago, a delegation from the German region of Waden-Gutenberg visited the laboratory to open avenues of collaboration.
For Lluís Soler, deputy director of the Specific Hydrogen Research Center (CER-H2) of which the equipment is a part, the most important thing is that the laboratory "contributes to filling the valley of death", that is to say, it helps to complete "the journey" between fundamental research and going to market. This makes it easier for both a more basic result in a process and a specific product to end up on the market. About thirty researchers work in the laboratory, but also industrial PhD students, who are, in reality, teaching and research staff in training.
From 24 solar panels to 100 kW in extreme conditions
One of the challenges of this laboratory is to research and look for alternatives to fossil fuels to generate energy. This is made from green hydrogen, that is, hydrogen that has been produced with renewable energy. The equipment has 24 solar panels installed on the roof. They have an initial capacity to produce more than 13 kW, 5 kW of electrical power for the laboratory microgrid through fuel cells and 6 kg per day hydrogen production. The storage capacity is 17 kg of hydrogen at 300 bar pressure.
"Competitiveness is one of the key factors to advance the use of hydrogen - explains Attila Husar, director of the laboratory -, the current price of generating a Kg of hydrogen is five or six euros and we need this cost to be between two and three euros to be able to successfully reach the hydrogen market". The CER-H2 team of researchers already has innovative projects underway to develop new liquid hydrogen storage systems, transforming it into synthetic liquid fuels, as a zero-emission fuel for aircraft or creating bimetallic catalysts. lics for the production of green and blue hydrogen. They design hydrogen batteries for hybrid electric vehicles or intelligent hydrogen combustion systems to decarbonize the glass, cement, steel and ceramics industry...
"There are very few facilities in Europe that have the possibility to test in real conditions the entire green hydrogen production process", specifies Husar, "the laboratory at the Diagonal-Besòs Campus constitutes a true living lab of great value for to companies".
