On December 16, Xie Heping's team signed a four-party cooperation agreement with Dongfang Electric Company Limited and Dongfang Electric (Fujian) Innovation Research Institute Co.

"The original technology of in-situ direct electrolysis of hydrogen from seawater without desalination, as reported in Nature, is expected to break the existing thinking that pure water must be supplied to the system to produce hydrogen from electrolytic water, and can form a whole chain of zero-carbon hydrogen energy with the integrated industrial model of "offshore wind power renewable resources - direct electrolysis of hydrogen from seawater". The development path!" The words of Academician Xie Heping officially kicked off the new strategic development of "ocean green hydrogen with seawater resources energy". Academician Xie Heping, Vice President Wang Yongcheng, Member of the Party Group and Deputy General Manager Zhang Yanjun of Dongfang Electric Company Limited, and President Liu Taisheng of Dongfang Electric (Fujian) Innovation Research Institute Company Limited witnessed the signing of the cooperation agreement on "Technology Development and Industrialization and Application of In-situ Direct Electrolysis Hydrogen Production from Seawater without Desalination". Ltd. invested 30 million RMB for the preliminary research and development of the disruptive technology of seawater desalination-free in-situ direct electrolysis for hydrogen production, and obtained the intellectual property rights of the original technology patent and related information reported by Nature, while forming a four-party alliance to follow up on the pilot test and demonstration of the original technology, iterative upgrading and promotion of industrialization.

A new pathway for in situ direct electrolysis of hydrogen from seawater

The ocean is the largest hydrogen mine on earth, and asking for water from the sea is an important direction for the future development of hydrogen energy! However, the complex composition of seawater (about 92 chemical elements) has led to many challenges in the production of hydrogen from seawater. Desalination followed by hydrogen production is currently the most mature pathway for hydrogen production from seawater, with demonstration projects being carried out on a large scale in many countries around the world. However, this technology relies heavily on large-scale desalination equipment, and the process is complex and takes up a lot of land resources, further increasing the cost of hydrogen production and the difficulty of construction. In the early 1970s, some scientists asked whether seawater could be directly electrolysed to produce hydrogen. Over the past half century, renowned research teams at home and abroad, such as Stanford University, CNRS, the University of Adelaide and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have conducted a lot of research through catalyst engineering and membrane material science, aiming to solve the problems of chlorination, calcium and magnesium precipitation and catalyst deactivation in the direct electrolysis of seawater for hydrogen production. However, so far, there is no breakthrough theory and principle to completely avoid the influence of the complex components of seawater on the electrolysis of hydrogen, and the principle and technology of efficient and stable direct electrolysis of seawater to produce hydrogen on a large scale is still a gap in the world!

Academician Xie Heping proposed a new idea of combining physical mechanics and electrochemistry to solve the challenges of direct electrolytic hydrogen production from seawater, thus creatively creating a new principle and technology of in-situ direct electrolytic hydrogen production from seawater without desalination. By cleverly combining physical mechanics processes such as molecular diffusion and interfacial phase equilibrium with electrochemical reactions, a theoretical model of direct electrolytic hydrogen production from seawater driven by phase change migration has been established, revealing the mechanism of the interfacial pressure difference on the spontaneous phase change mass transfer of seawater under the micron-level air gap pathway, forming a dynamic self-regulating stable electrolytic hydrogen production method with electrochemical reactions and seawater migration, and solving the half-century-old problem of harmful corrosiveness that has plagued the field of seawater electrolysis. This has solved the half-century-old problem of harmful corrosion in the field of hydrogen production. At the same time, the world's first 400L/h seawater direct in-situ electrolytic hydrogen production technology and equipment has been developed and has been in continuous operation for over 3200 hours in Shenzhen Bay seawater, convincingly realising a stable and large-scale hydrogen production process from seawater! In addition, acidic and alkaline solid gel electrolytes were further developed to demonstrate the adaptation of phase change migration strategies to different electrolyte materials and are expected to accompany the iterative development of PEM and AEM electrolysis technologies. At the same time, the principle technology can be explored and extended to the direct in-situ hydrogen production from diversified water resources (e.g. river water, wastewater, salt lake, etc.), providing a new idea of multi-effective use for resource enrichment and concentration and energy production.

The university-enterprise partnership to build China's original direct electrolysis of seawater for hydrogen production

Zhang Yanjun, Deputy General Manager of Dongfang Electric, said that hydrogen energy is one of the important supports for the development of clean energy equipment of Dongfang Electric Group. The joint promotion of seawater desalination-free in-situ hydrogen production technology is in line with the current national strategy and the development of enterprises, and the Dongfang Electric Group will strongly support the innovation and development of this technology, promote the deep integration of industry, academia, research and use, continuously improve the development pattern of Dongfang Electric Group's hydrogen energy production, storage and processing industry, promote the achievement of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and contribute to the achievement of China's carbon peak carbon neutral strategic goals.

Xie Heping, an academician, emphasized that "Dongfang Electric is a leading central enterprise in the field of hydrogen energy, with an advanced strategic development layout and strong strength and status. The first step is to jointly promote the demonstration and validation of the offshore pilot project to set a benchmark in the field of direct hydrogen production from offshore renewable energy; the second step is to fully explore the core technology of the second generation of direct in-situ electrolysis of hydrogen production from seawater without desalination, iteratively develop and optimise and upgrade the core technology and equipment to maintain the technological leadership in direct hydrogen production from seawater and lead a new mode of hydrogen production from non-pure water electrolysis; the third step is to work together with Dongfang Electric for win-win cooperation with global enterprises The third step is to cooperate with Dongfang Electric to promote industrialisation and lead a new industrial model of integrating renewable energy such as offshore wind power with direct electrolysis of hydrogen from seawater! We welcome more domestic and foreign enterprises to join us to promote the industrial application of seawater direct hydrogen production technology and welcome the era of seawater direct electrolysis hydrogen production 2.0."

This cooperation will give full play to the advantages of Xie Heping's team in the field of "in-situ direct electrolysis of hydrogen from seawater without desalination", combined with the technical support and market position of Dongfang Electric in the field of clean energy equipment R&D and manufacturing, to create a Chinese original "marine green hydrogen" emerging strategic industry with multiple energy complementary to offshore renewable energy, and create the future era of hydrogen energy together!