Hydrogen from Regenerative Energy Power Sources: pressurised alkaline electrolyser with high efficiency and wide operating range The EU-Project „RESelyser“

The project RESelyser develops high pressure, highly efficient, low cost alkaline water electrolysers that can be integrated with renewable energy power sources (RES) using an advanced membrane concept, highly efficient electrodes and a new cell design. A new separator membrane with internal electrolyte circulation and an adapted design of the cell to improve mass transfer, especially gas evacuation is investigated and demonstrated. Intermittent and varying load operation with RES will be addressed by improved electrode stability and a cell concept for increasing the gas purity of hydrogen and oxygen especially at low power operation. Also the system architecture will be optimized for intermittent operation of the electrolyser. First results will be presented: high performance electrodes with a plasma sprayed coating layer have a surface of more than 30 000 cm2/cm2 electrode area and show high performance and stability. A double layer diaphragm with internal KOH supply improves the gas purity and high current density performance of the cell. The project is supported by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative under grant agreement n° [278732