New reactor enables efficient production of hydrogen from wood waste

A group of researchers developed the concept of a new reactor in which hydrogen is produced from wood waste more efficiently than using existing technologies.

Hydrogen fuel is promisingsource of energy of the future, and is already beginning to be used in various industrial processes. Despite the huge reserves  hydrogen on Earth, almost all of it is in bound form, for example, as part of water molecules or hydrocarbons.

Previously, hydrogen was usually obtained from fossil fuels, by converting natural gas,but in recent years, more attention has begungive away alternative raw materials such as wood, sewage sludge and organic waste. The disadvantages of such sources is the need for complex cleaning with high energy consumption.

Recently, researchers from a European projectThe ROMEO consortium presented a “2 in 1” reactor project in which the production and recovery of hydrogen is carried out in one step, thanks to special membranes and a homogeneous catalyst. The gas-liquid reaction implemented in it ensures high production speed even at relatively low temperatures (about 120 °C instead of 500 °C). In this case, carbon dioxide is continuously separated by a special separation membrane.

During the tests, wood waste and biomass were used as raw materials for gas synthesis.

According to the developers, reactor optimizationmade it possible to significantly increase production efficiency compared to technologies used today. In particular, energy consumption decreased by 15%, and emissions decreased. by 40%, at a high level of productivity.

However, the project is still in its early stages of development and further development will be required for industrial application. The European Union has allocated 6 million euros to continue research.

We also previously reported on the development of a new method for water electrolysis that doubles the efficiency of hydrogen production.

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