According to the university's website, a promising new technology has been developed by researchers of the Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering, Marta Mazurkiewicz-Pawlicka and Zuzanna Bojarska.
Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells to power cars or homes. Pure hydrogen is produced by the decomposition of water with platinum widely used as a catalyst, scienceinpoland.pl said.
However, platinum is very expensive and in short supply, so researchers are looking for an affordable replacement.
"There are many techniques for obtaining such catalysts, but they cannot be used on a larger scale as they are too expensive,” Zuzanna Bojarska was quoted as saying.
“Therefore, ultimately, our materials will be produced in impact reactors, which is a novelty," Bojarska elaborated, adding that “impact reactors enable the production of materials with repeatable properties in a continuous and controlled manner."
“Due to their relatively simple design, they are easily scalable and can be successfully used in industry,” Bojarska noted.
To further reduce the cost of hydrogen generation, the Warsaw University of Technology researchers have embarked on a joint project with their peers from Tatung University in Taipei.
Poland, which generates some 80% of its electricity from coal, is under European Union pressure to reduce carbon emissions and the government hopes that the hydrogen sector, among other green projects, will help.
Thus, 140 top government agencies, companies, research centres as well as industry and lobby groups last year signed a hydrogen sector deal to boost Poland’s green transition.
According to forecasts, hydrogen technologies will be viable within 5 to 10 years.
(mo)
Source: scienceinpoland.pl