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Expected Outcome:Water/steam electrolysis, when coupled with renewables bears the potential of enabling the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial sectors via the introduction of renewable hydrogen. Steam electrolysis technologies such as solid oxide electrolysers (SOELs) and proton conducting ceramic electrolysers (PCCEL) operate at high temperatures and therefore yield high efficiencies.
However, the cost of hydrogen production via electrolysis remains higher than those of other routes, such as steam methane reforming. Therefore, it is paramount that the lifetime and energy densities are maximised and the system integration with BoP components is improved to bring both the CAPEX and the OPEX down, thus resulting in more affordable renewable hydrogen costs for the end-users.
The degradation mechanisms, from which high temperature electrolysers suffer, are mainly tied to the material in their stack such as the electrolyte, electrodes, interconnects, and seals, depending on operation temperature, pressure and thermal cycling; but they can also be related to their surroundings including balance of plant (BoP) components, for instance, and load variation...
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Expected Outcome:Water/steam electrolysis, when coupled with renewables bears the potential of enabling the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial sectors via the introduction of renewable hydrogen. Steam electrolysis technologies such as solid oxide electrolysers (SOELs) and proton conducting ceramic electrolysers (PCCEL) operate at high temperatures and therefore yield high efficiencies.
However, the cost of hydrogen production via electrolysis remains higher than those of other routes, such as steam methane reforming. Therefore, it is paramount that the lifetime and energy densities are maximised and the system integration with BoP components is improved to bring both the CAPEX and the OPEX down, thus resulting in more affordable renewable hydrogen costs for the end-users.
The degradation mechanisms, from which high temperature electrolysers suffer, are mainly tied to the material in their stack such as the electrolyte, electrodes, interconnects, and seals, depending on operation temperature, pressure and thermal cycling; but they can also be related to their surroundings including balance of plant (BoP) components, for instance, and load variation and fluctuation upon connection with the external grid.
Therefore, project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:
Improvements to already conceptualised novel materials including electrocatalysts, electrodes, metallic interconnects, coatings, and seals enabling increased lifetime to the ensemble of both single cells and stacks;Use of advanced manufacturing techniques to tackle issues with interfaces within the cell structure to minimise polarisation;Promote circularity of materials and components, by working on upstream (during manufacturing) and downstream (end of life) recycling, to integrate recycled materials, such as Ni, Co, Ce, La, and others, into the components, addressing the concerns with critical raw materials utilisation and hence strengthening the European hydrogen value chain on high-temperature electrolysers;Improvements to eventual multi-stack configuration to minimise the degradation mechanisms through optimising the control of the different stacks and the interactions between them, as well as BoP architecture;Introduction of accelerated stress test protocols on both single cell and stack levels to assure quality and lifetime of cells, stacks, and ultimately systems, including BoP;Balance of plant configuration that demonstrates satisfying performances at the system level. This includes new stack insulation strategies and materials, hot box systems, improved power electronics, innovative valorisation strategy of waste heat (e.g., for efficient compression or gas purification), and innovative design for multi-stack configuration. This innovative balance of plant configuration will enable to optimise the efficiency of the system’s lifetime and reliability;Paving the way towards European leadership for renewable hydrogen production from high-temperature electrolysis, with enhanced heat integration. Within this scenario, project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and 2030 KPIs of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA for SOEL and PCCEL, as follows:
SOEL:
To reach current densities over 1.2 A/cm2 at thermoneutral voltage;To demonstrate average degradation rates lower than 0.5%/1,000 h or equivalent to 6.4 mV/1,000 h per cell, on thermoneutral voltage;To operate steadily with an electrical demand of < 37 kWh/kg of H2 and a heat demand of < 8 kWh/kg of H2 at nominal capacity at a system level. PCCEL:
To reach current densities over 1.0 A/cm2 at thermoneutral voltage;To demonstrate average degradation[1] rates lower than 0.8%/1,000 h or equivalent to 10.3 mV/1,000 h per cell, on thermoneutral voltage;To operate steadily with an electrical demand of < 40 kWh/kg of H2 and a heat demand of < 10 kWh/kg of H2 at nominal capacity at a system level. Scope:The scope of this topic is centred around minimising the effects of degradation to consequently extend the lifetime of high temperature steam electrolysers (HTSE) such as solid oxide electrolysers (SOEL) and proton-conducting ceramic electrolysers (PCCEL). HTSE technology has the potential to achieve a low cost of hydrogen production because of its higher energy efficiency due to the operation at high temperature.
However, because of the latter, degradation mechanisms such as electrocatalyst agglomeration and migration, delamination of electrodes from electrolyte layers, interconnects oxidation, thermal cycling failure and structure cracking for instance of sealings are common sources of lifetime degradation and further reasons for the replacement of components or even full stacks. In addition to that, instability in load due to renewables intermittency or grid fluctuations are also sources of degradation and need to be addressed accordingly.
Moreover, the link between materials improvements and design (of cells, stacks, modules, systems, and balance of plant) should be demonstrated. Electrolysers are supposed to target lifetimes of over 40,000 hours, albeit undergoing long-term calendar tests (> 10,000 hours) is rather impractical, and thereby this sets the scene for accelerated-stress tests (AS-T) and modelling techniques that can predict the lifetime achieved by potential new technologies.
Considering the above-given background, the project should address the following issues:
Materials and advanced manufacturing techniques improvements aiming to address the deactivation of electrocatalysts within the fuel electrode, microstructure sintering and interdiffusion between species within the oxygen electrode, degradation of sealing due to long-term high temperature operation, chromium oxidation in interconnect stainless steels and growth of poorly conducting oxide layers between the metallic interconnect plates and the electrodes;Development of circularity by working on upstream and downstream recycling processes, targeting to minimise the utilisation of raw critical materials. In particular, design strategies that allow for facile re-utilisation of half-cell materials, utilisation of manufacturing scrap in the process, as well as the development of materials originating from downstream recycling within the stack;Optimisation of load variation and fluctuation including the electrolysers’ integration with renewable energy sources;Optimisation of BoP components and architectures to minimise their impact on stack degradation and improve overall system performances (e.g. steam generator, power quality from the power electronics components towards the electrolyser plant under Renewable Energy conditions, valorisation of stack heat for hydrogen compression, optimisation of gas purification concept, efficient multi-stack design etc.);Introduction of techniques to understand long-term degradation, such as accelerated-stress tests, and modelling; Those developments should be validated at the scale of stacks steadily producing a minimum of 20 kW nominal power, within a long-term operation of above 2,000 h. Validation should be compatible with system levels. In this context, innovative BoP components (e.g. power electronics, compressor, gas purification system) may be tested together with the stacks if relevant to validate the innovative system integration. The use of a hardware-in-the-loop approach to simulate the operation of system components that are not part of the targeted development may also be considered.
It is encouraged to find synergies with the ELECTROLIFE[2] project that focuses on a comprehensive understanding of electrolyser degradation mechanisms through testing and modelling. Furthermore, the project proposals should be able to demonstrate how they would go beyond the intentions of the EU-funded projects ELECTRA[3], GAMER[4], Hy-SPIRE[5], and WINNER[6] when it comes to PCCEL materials and stacks, SElySOs[7] regarding the understanding of degradation mechanisms, NOAH2[8] as a benchmark for stacks, LOWCOST-IC[9] when it comes to lowering costs of components, NewSOC[10] on advanced manufacturing, AD ASTRA[11] for accelerated stress tests, REACTT[12] for monitoring and diagnostics of solid oxide electrolysers and PROMETEO[13] that focused on the coupling of solid oxide electrolysers with intermittent renewable sources. To have an electrolyser stack manufacturer involved in the consortium for this topic is encouraged.
Proposals are expected to be able to demonstrate that there is at least an experimental proof-of-concept validated in the laboratory (Technology Readdiness Level (TRL) 3) to be addressed, and detail how the project will achieve the maturity of TRL5 for SOEL technologies and TRL4 for PCCEL by the end of its execution and validate the technology in a relevant environment.
For activities developing test protocols and procedures for the performance and durability assessment of electrolysers and fuel cell components proposals should foresee a collaboration mechanism with the Joint Research Center (JRC)[14] (see section 2.2.4.3 "Collaboration with JRC"), in order to support EU-wide harmonisation. Test activities should adopt the already published EU harmonised testing protocols[15] to benchmark performance and quantify progress at programme level.
For additional elements applicable to all topics please refer to section 2.2.3.2.
Activities are expected to start at TRL 3 and achieve TRL 5 (SOEL) and TRL 4 (PCCEL) by the end of the project - see General Annex B.
The JU estimates that an EU contribution of maximum EUR 4.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.
The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2025 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023–2025 which apply mutatis mutandis
[1] Degradation under thermo-neutral conditions (@UTN) in per cent loss of production rate (hydrogen power output) at constant efficiency. Note this is a different definition from that of low temperature electrolysis, reflecting the difference in technology. Testing time should be a minimum of 2,000 hours.
[2] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101137802
[3] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/621244
[4] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/779486
[5] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101137866
[6] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101007165
[7] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/671481
[8] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101137600
[9] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/826323
[10] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/874577
[11] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/825027
[12] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101007175
[13] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101007194
[14] https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/knowledge-management/collaboration-jrc-0_en
[15] https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/knowledge-management/collaboration-jrc-0/clean-hydrogen-ju-jrc-deliverables_en
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