- The Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the European Union co-fund this Horizon Europe initiative taking up the Climate, Energy and Mobility challenge
- The consortium, made up of 12 partners from 8 countries, will develop an electrolyser ready to produce green hydrogen in remote locations and harsh salinity conditions
ASTERISK is a new project co-funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership the European Union with a total budget of almost €4 million, which will develop new technologies to transform seawater into clean hydrogen. The collaborative consortium, made up of 12 partners from 8 different countries, will spend three years designing and manufacturing an electrolyser that meets the demands of large consumers while reducing its impact on the environment.
The need for sustainable and renewable energy solutions has never been greater. As the world struggles with the effects of climate change, scientists are searching for new energy sources that will help humanity move away from its dependence on fossil fuels, which contribute to the production of greenhouse gases. In this context, green hydrogen is seen in several studies as a key element, promising for decarbonising several sectors of our economy.
However, this technology still presents technical challenges and in scaling up its use to the needs of industry. ASTERISK, a new project co-funded by the European Union and the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, will to create an scalable system, ready to produce green hydrogen directly from seawater. Additionally, ASTERISK will avoid the use of fluorinated compounds (“forever chemicals” and PFAS), which are harmful to the environment and human health, as well as reduce the reliance on scarce resources such as platinum.
In the words of Pau Farràs, researcher at the University of Galway, in Ireland, and coordinator of the project, ASTERISK is a pioneering initiative in the direct use of seawater for hydrogen production: “We will study which seawater components are compatible with our electrolyser, as well as develop a technology capable of recovering ions of interest to industry to add more value to hydrogen production”.
A critical energy resource
Water is made up of two elements: oxygen and hydrogen. Applying electric current, we can ‘break’ water into its basic components through a process called electrolysis. In particular, hydrogen has uses as a clean chemical fuel and an energy vector – burning hydrogen does not generate greenhouse gases.
Green hydrogen, derived from green energy sources such as solar and wind, has become quite popular in recent years. In fact, the European Union is investing a lot of resources, both human and financial, in research projects focused on this field, including ASTERISK. Hydrogen could decarbonise some of the most polluting human activities, an urgent need in the current context.
ASTERISK is an ambitious project, with an ultimate goal to develop an electrolyser with several essential features. First, it will replace scarce and precious materials, like platinum, with more common ones, including iron, cobalt and nickel. Additionally, ASTERISK will also design an electrolyser whose components avoid the use of polluting chemicals known as “forever chemicals”, fluorinated compounds that do not degrade and accumulate in the body and the environment. Finally, we will use seawater instead of fresh water, which will allow our electrolyser to operate in remote locations, therefore democratising access to energy. Using seawater also means preserving a precious and scarce resource such as clean water for other more necessary uses, including agriculture, farming and human consumption.
A path full of challenges
The technical challenges of a project like ASTERISK are daunting, but we have an interdisciplinary team with partners from academia, technology centres, SMEs and industry. Each brings unique knowledge to the project, which will help us find solutions to difficult problems.
The consortium grows on the experience of ANEMEL, a project that pursued the production of green hydrogen from low-quality and dirty water, funded by the European Innovation Council “Pathfinder Challenges” scheme. However, ASTERISK wants to go even further: “At ANEMEL, we studied how to make an electrolyser compatible with common salt, which consists of sodium chloride. The problem is that seawater contains many other elements that can negatively affect the electrolyser, and this is the main challenge we are going to face with ASTERISK”, says Farràs.
ASTERISK also brings new partners to the consortium, such as ACSA-Sorigué, a leading Spanish company in the water sector. Lidia Zulema Borjas, from Sorigué, explains: “For us ASTERISK represents a unique opportunity to explore sustainable and scalable solutions in the field of water, aligned with today’s energy and climate challenges. It also allows us to strengthen our position as an innovative force in the water sector and to collaborate with leading European research centres and companies”.
The ASTERISK project is lead by the University of Galway (Ireland), and counts with the participation of:
- Industrie De Nora SPA (Italy)
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Israel)
- Agata Communications Ltd. (United Kingdom)
- Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Associacion, LEITAT (Spain)
- TU Berlin (Germany)
- University of Newcastle, UNEW (United Kingdom)
- Jožef Stefan Institute, JSI (Slovenia)
- ACSA, Obras e Infraestructuras – Sorigué, S.A.U. (Spain)
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL (Switzerland)
- Haute Ecole Specialisee de Suisse Occidentale, HES-SO (Switzerland)
- NovaMea SA (Switzerland)
Contact for media:
ASTERISK Press Office
Fernando Gomollón-Bel and Lucía Casas Piñeiro