Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NOAH2 (Novel SOE architectures for hydrogen production)
Période du rapport: 2024-01-01 au 2025-06-30
Hydrogen is a key energy vector in a future decarbonised economy. Large-scale application in numerous sectors, such as transport, iron & steel plants, and the chemical industry, requires efficient and sustainable production routes of green hydrogen. Currently all electrolyser technologies are still challenged by high CAPEX and OPEX.
The goal of the NOAH2 project is to provide a sustainable, cost-competitive, flexible, and durable stack technology for hydrogen production at temperatures < 700°C by developing innovative electrodes, cell, and stack designs. NOAH2 will significantly boost electrolysis
performance and durability of cells & stacks beyond State-of-the-Art (SoA), while reducing critical raw materials (CRM) and cost of manufacturing using environmentally friendly and wellestablished large scale production routes for solid oxide technology.
Specific technical objectives for NOAH2 are to:
1. Reduce the costs of SOEL stacks by 50% compared to SoA through (i) use of metallic instead of ceramic supporting components, (ii) integration of support layer/interconnect functionalities into one single layer, (iii) reduction of the stack volume by at least 20% by
developing a metal based monolithic structure,
2. Increase hydrogen production rate (current density) by 20% vs. SoA, reaching 1.2 A/cm2, through innovative electrode materials & structuring with infiltration of materials of superior electro catalytic activity at temperatures below 700 oC,
3. Demonstrate commercially viable durability with degradation rates below ~0.75%/1000 h at stack level, and
4. Reach SOEL operation in less than 6 h from cold state and less than 240 s from hot state to enable fast dynamic operating modes, facilitated by the compact, metal based monolithic stack architecture and highly active electrodes.
In addition, NOAH2 will
i. Outline a path towards commercialization in terms of projecting costs for large scale manufacture towards MW and GW scale, reaching the 2030 targets of capital expenditure (CAPEX) ~ 520 €/(kg/d) and operational expenditure (OPEX) ~45 €/(kg/d)/y,
ii. Provide a sustainability classification (life cycle analysis: LCA) with emphasis on substituting CRM,
iii. Provide an assessment of commercialization potential compared to SoA SOEL, PEM, and Alkaline electrolysers, and
iv. Identify and engage with potential industrial players for high-volume manufacture and further up-take of the project results.
NOAH2 will employ multi scale multi physic modelling to develop electrodes and monolithic stacks combined with advanced (in-situ and ex-situ) physicochemical and electrochemical characterization to understand effects of materials, architectures and operational conditions on performance and stability and to identify degradation mechanisms at cell and stack levels.
NOAH2 will move the concept from TRL level 2/3, with its clearly outlined technology formulation and first proof of concepts at small scale and sub-unit scale to TRL 4 at a stack unit level containing 125 cm2 of accumulated cell area.
The goal of the NOAH2 project is to provide a sustainable, cost-competitive, flexible, and durable stack technology for hydrogen production at temperatures < 700°C by developing innovative electrodes, cell, and stack designs. NOAH2 will significantly boost electrolysis
performance and durability of cells & stacks beyond State-of-the-Art (SoA), while reducing critical raw materials (CRM) and cost of manufacturing using environmentally friendly and wellestablished large scale production routes for solid oxide technology.
Specific technical objectives for NOAH2 are to:
1. Reduce the costs of SOEL stacks by 50% compared to SoA through (i) use of metallic instead of ceramic supporting components, (ii) integration of support layer/interconnect functionalities into one single layer, (iii) reduction of the stack volume by at least 20% by
developing a metal based monolithic structure,
2. Increase hydrogen production rate (current density) by 20% vs. SoA, reaching 1.2 A/cm2, through innovative electrode materials & structuring with infiltration of materials of superior electro catalytic activity at temperatures below 700 oC,
3. Demonstrate commercially viable durability with degradation rates below ~0.75%/1000 h at stack level, and
4. Reach SOEL operation in less than 6 h from cold state and less than 240 s from hot state to enable fast dynamic operating modes, facilitated by the compact, metal based monolithic stack architecture and highly active electrodes.
In addition, NOAH2 will
i. Outline a path towards commercialization in terms of projecting costs for large scale manufacture towards MW and GW scale, reaching the 2030 targets of capital expenditure (CAPEX) ~ 520 €/(kg/d) and operational expenditure (OPEX) ~45 €/(kg/d)/y,
ii. Provide a sustainability classification (life cycle analysis: LCA) with emphasis on substituting CRM,
iii. Provide an assessment of commercialization potential compared to SoA SOEL, PEM, and Alkaline electrolysers, and
iv. Identify and engage with potential industrial players for high-volume manufacture and further up-take of the project results.
NOAH2 will employ multi scale multi physic modelling to develop electrodes and monolithic stacks combined with advanced (in-situ and ex-situ) physicochemical and electrochemical characterization to understand effects of materials, architectures and operational conditions on performance and stability and to identify degradation mechanisms at cell and stack levels.
NOAH2 will move the concept from TRL level 2/3, with its clearly outlined technology formulation and first proof of concepts at small scale and sub-unit scale to TRL 4 at a stack unit level containing 125 cm2 of accumulated cell area.
At midterm, the NOAH2 project achieved:
Modelling to improve electrode performance: A newly developed modelling framework can simulate the impact of the microstructure on the infiltrated electrode, resulting in recommendations in terms of catalyst loading, particle size, porosity, etc.
Improvement of electrode performance: The recommendations from the modelling were used for electrode manufacturing yielding oxygen impregnated electrodes and two types of new catalysts for hydrogen electrodes with improved performances by factors 2-3 compared to conventional LSCF-GDC composite and Ni/YSZ cermet electrodes.
Corrosion resistant metal powders and coatings: Three new alloy powders were prepared showing improved oxidation resistance compared to the “standard” FeCr powders. The corrosion resistance was improved by CGO coating through infiltration.
Monolithic stack development: Physics based numerical models were developed to to aid optimizing the monolithic stack architecture. Monolithic stacks were successfully made and tested.
Assessments of the environmental and economic performance: Preliminary LCA shows that the production of the monolithic stack generates between 22%-85% lower environmental impact than the conventional stack in four out of five analysed indicators; the CRM assessment shows an average reduction of 72% in the use of CRM, except for three elements out of 25; the cost model reports a decrease in the monolithic stack's materials and their manufacturing costs of 28% and 52% compared to FESC and ESC SOEL respectively.
Modelling to improve electrode performance: A newly developed modelling framework can simulate the impact of the microstructure on the infiltrated electrode, resulting in recommendations in terms of catalyst loading, particle size, porosity, etc.
Improvement of electrode performance: The recommendations from the modelling were used for electrode manufacturing yielding oxygen impregnated electrodes and two types of new catalysts for hydrogen electrodes with improved performances by factors 2-3 compared to conventional LSCF-GDC composite and Ni/YSZ cermet electrodes.
Corrosion resistant metal powders and coatings: Three new alloy powders were prepared showing improved oxidation resistance compared to the “standard” FeCr powders. The corrosion resistance was improved by CGO coating through infiltration.
Monolithic stack development: Physics based numerical models were developed to to aid optimizing the monolithic stack architecture. Monolithic stacks were successfully made and tested.
Assessments of the environmental and economic performance: Preliminary LCA shows that the production of the monolithic stack generates between 22%-85% lower environmental impact than the conventional stack in four out of five analysed indicators; the CRM assessment shows an average reduction of 72% in the use of CRM, except for three elements out of 25; the cost model reports a decrease in the monolithic stack's materials and their manufacturing costs of 28% and 52% compared to FESC and ESC SOEL respectively.
At midterm, the NOAH2 moved beyond State-of-the-art related to:
- Establishment of modelling and fabrication of electrodes improving SoA performances by factors 2-3
- Determine corrosion resistance of key (metallic) components for the NOAH2 concept
- Fabrication and testing of a monolithic stack
- Demonstrating decreasing the environmental impact and manufacturing costs for the NOAH2 concept based on preliminary LCA
- Establishment of modelling and fabrication of electrodes improving SoA performances by factors 2-3
- Determine corrosion resistance of key (metallic) components for the NOAH2 concept
- Fabrication and testing of a monolithic stack
- Demonstrating decreasing the environmental impact and manufacturing costs for the NOAH2 concept based on preliminary LCA