Clean hydrogen from sea water | Fusion - WeRIndia

Scientists believe that hydrogen can relieve humans from being dependent on fossil fuels. Unlike gasoline or diesel that release carbon dioxide, hydrogen does not release it.

That’s why researchers call it the fuel of the future. However, the extraction of hydrogen from water is difficult.

Furthermore, storing hydrogen is more difficult as it is highly inflammable. Yet, IIT Madras scientists developed a technology to extract hydrogen from seawater.

As storage of hydrogen is difficult, they tried producing hydrogen using different approaches so that there is no need of storage.

This helps avoid safety issues related to storage and transportation.  Abdul Malek from the Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras says that solid starting materials can be transported from one place to another place easily.

The scientists say that hydrogen can be produced without using heat, electricity and sunlight. The production process can be tuned to the application.

Hydrogen can be used as a fuel in all kinds of sectors like automotive, aviation etc. Hence, Malek and his team are working to create a hydrogen system to extract it to be used in vehicles.

The team says that the cost is probably the same as existing prices. However, the price may change due to scalability. The main motive of the team is to create a system with enhanced safety and eliminate pollution.

The production process involves a machine through which the seawater passes from one compartment to another compartment.

Based on the environment, water can be added. In other words, the rate of water addition can be changed as per the environment.

Traditional hydrogen extraction machines need a high temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius and 25 bar pressure. However, the technology developed by IIT Madras does not require a high temperature. It can be done in room temperature with 1 bar pressure.

Image Reference: Indiatimes