Israeli breakthrough could turn hydrogen into the fuel of future

By ISRAEL21cSeptember 26, 2019

If H2Pro’s new method proves to be a big breakthrough, hydrogen could become an ideal energy carrier for a decarbonized world

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*From left, Dr. Hen Dotan , Avigail Landman, Prof. Avner Rothschild and Prof. Gideon Grader at H2Pro in Caesarea. Photo by Chen Galili/Technion*

Electric battery-powered cars have stolen much of the buzz that hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles generated before the rise of Tesla and its fellow EV makers. A new technology developed by researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in collaboration with the team that founded the popular Israeli-made phone app Viber promises to put hydrogen back on the grid. H2Pro uses a water-splitting technology called E-TAC (electrochemical thermally activated chemical) that draws hydrogen out of water by separating it from oxygen. A water molecule is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

Removing hydrogen from water is the only environmentally clean way to produce liquid hydrogen, but it’s inefficient and expensive. As a result, hydrogen hasn’t taken off for the generation of electricity production. Nearly all hydrogen produced today (for fertilizers, refineries and methanol production) comes from fossil fuels that release harmful CO2 emissions. E-TAC technology was developed by Prof. Gideon Grader, Prof. Avner Rothschild and Dr. Hen Dotan at the Technion. Their research was spun off earlier this year into the new company H2Pro of Caesarea, which has raised $5 million from investors including Hyundai. The E-TAC water splitting system is 98.7% efficient and could reduce the cost of the equipment to produce hydrogen by 50%, according to results of H2Pro’s research published in the journal Nature Energy.-- More...

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ISRAEL21c——Bio and Archives

ISRAEL21c was founded in 2001, in the wake of the Second Intifada, to broaden public understanding of Israel beyond typical portrayals in the mainstream media.

The organization’s founders – Israeli-American technology executives – understood the great power of the Internet and developed a first-of-its kind online product with global appeal and reach.