University of Twente joins the largest hydrogen research project in the Netherlands

With 58 partners, a grant of more than €34.5 million and a total budget of more than €50 million, GroenvermogenNL's new HyPRO project is the largest R&D project for green hydrogen in the Netherlands to date. This R&D project was awarded funding by NWO this week. The consortium will conduct research into a more sustainable production of hydrogen by improvement of electrolysis and plasma technology: "the heart of the hydrogen revolution."

 In order to reduce the cost of green hydrogen and scale up its production, it is necessary to improve electrolysis technology. The R&D consortium HyPRO will make an important contribution to this endeavor. The consortium also focuses on the development of a Dutch supply chain for materials, components and systems for electrolysis. HyPRO is the fourth R&D project of the National Growth Fund programme GroenvermogenNL to be launched. The HyPRO project is coordinated by TNO together with our University of Twente (Prof. Guido Mul, Dr. Aayan Banerjee). HyPRO is a consortium of ten universities, five universities of applied sciences, two research institutes and more than forty companies, in which 15 Dutch hydrogen start-ups play an important role. In addition, companies from the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, France, Germany, Brazil, Japan and America contribute financially or in-kind to this consortium.

 The UT will work in 6 different projects with various consortium partners on i) improved membranes for alkaline electrolysis (Lammertink/De Vos), ii) development of design and operational protocols to limit the performance degradation of high-temperature electrolysis under fluctuating loads (Banerjee/Nijmeijer), (iii) development of performance and durability models for so-called stack and system design of high-temperature electrolysis (Banerjee/Nijmeijer), (iv) the development of digital analogies of experimental systems using data-driven machine learning, in order to develop advanced control strategies to extend the lifetime of AEM electrolysers (Banerjee/Mul), (v) alternative anodic processes associated with hydrogen production, and high-pressure hydrogen production (Mul), and finally (vi) the development of improved electrode materials using high-performance nanotechnological preparation and characterization methods (Bauemer/Mul).

For more information about the growth fund, see GroenvermogenNL - Groenvermogen and what else is happening at the UT to realize the hydrogen revolution, see Hydrogen| Sustainability at the University of Twente (utwente.nl)

This article was first published on 19 September by University of Twente.