CSIRO trials Australia first portable, off-grid hydrogen generator

A new off-grid, portable hydrogen generator designed to produce the zero emissions fuel at the point of consumption is being demonstrated by researchers at CSIRO in what is being described as an Australian first.

The agency says a team of CSIRO scientists will build a demonstration unit based on patented technology to efficiently generate hydrogen from liquid carriers, supported by a $10 million investment over six years from Advanced Carbon Engineering.

As CSIRO explains it, the use of a liquid carrier allows hydrogen to be stored safely in tanks and transported from where it is produced – perhaps a solar or wind farm – to where the energy will be used.

The downside to this strategy has traditionally been that extracting hydrogen from the liquid carrier can wind up being costly and energy intensive.

CSIRO researcher John Chiefari said the agency’s patented catalytic static mixers – which speed up and better control chemical reactions, but without any moving parts – offer a key advantage over current packed bed reactor technology.

“This level of control allows the process to be highly scalable without the technical challenges that this usually entails,” Dr Chiefari says.

If successful, he adds, “[it] will enable hydrogen to be produced locally and on demand from the carrier, with the added advantages of the carrier fluid being safely stored in a similar way to diesel or petrol.

“This would be a big step forward with a goal to be able to store the fuel in standard tanks and manage it using existing diesel or petrol infrastructure.”

Vicky Au, CSIRO’s deputy hydrogen industry mission lead, says the demonstration will be the first hydrogen production of its kind using Australian technology.

“To get the hydrogen industry moving, we need to be able to get hydrogen where it will be used by the consumer. This generator unit will do just that and will be compact enough to move to where it’s needed – whether that’s a farm, a festival, an industrial facility or, a mine site.

“The power of industry and research coming together cannot be overstated when delivering the solutions needed for a sustainable future.”

The project is being delivered as a part of CSIRO’s Hydrogen Industry Mission.