Funding totalling £3 million has been awarded to researchers around the UK seeking to develop new technologies that will unlock the carbon-saving potential of hydrogen and low-carbon liquid fuels.
The research grants have been handed out by the UK Hub for Research Challenges in Hydrogen and Alternative Liquid Fuels (UK HyRES), which is based at the University of Bath. UK HyRES is working to drive forward the national effort in hydrogen research that is needed to help the UK to develop new technologies to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
UK HyRES, which itself received £11 million from the UK Government through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in 2023 to lead the UK’s approach to the fuels, made the latest funding awards to researchers around the UK to address key challenges.
Professor Tim Mays, from Bath’s Department of Chemical Engineering, leads UK HyRES. He said: “We are delighted to welcome 10 new research projects to UK-HyRES. The projects cover all our Hub themes – hydrogen production, storage and end use and alternative carriers – and join the 14 core projects already underway in the Hub.
“This gives UK HyRES a comprehensive base of top-tier research expertise to help answer the key questions around how we can use hydrogen and zero-carbon alternative liquid fuels to help reach Net Zero.”
Prof Mays added: “Amounting to a total of almost £3 million, the projects are funded by the Hub’s flexifund and were selected from 160 original expressions of interest and a longlist of nearly 50 proposals. The high quality and variety of all of the submissions was remarkable, and it was an incredibly difficult task to narrow down to the eventual funded projects.
“I would like to thank all the referees who contributed to this major effort. We look forward to future Hub calls to distribute the remaining flexifund budget of around £2 million.”
The projects will seek to address obstacles that currently stand in the way of greater adoption of hydrogen and low-carbon liquid fuels and seek to better understand ways to efficiently produce and use, and safely store and transport them.
The projects will investigate topics including the safe transportation of hydrogen by sea and storage in port bunkering facilities, the potential for North Sea offshore locations to be repurposed for H2 production, whether new techniques can produce the hydrogen from seawater, and how hydrogen can be more sustainably and efficiently produced through new electrolysis methods.
The projects will also build the UK’s skills base in the hydrogen and liquid fuels, another important goal of the UK HyRES hub that will help the country work toward achieving net zero.
The 10 projects and their leaders are:
Decoupled Electrolysis of Seawater
Professor Mark Symes, University of Glasgow
Researching the potential to create an electrolyser that can produce hydrogen directly from seawater, by using the disruptive approach of decoupled electrolysis (forming the oxygen and hydrogen products at different times, at different rates and in different locations). Producing hydrogen directly from seawater would be a major breakthrough, particularly where freshwater supplies are limited, such as in offshore or desert locations.
Repurposing the Economy Future of the North Sea (MHYSTIC)
Dr Alfonso Martinez-Felipe, University of Aberdeen
Describing and optimising the key mechanical properties of materials used for hydrogen storage and transport; enhancing the safety of long-distance H2 transmission networks; determining the feasibility of repurposing offshore assets in the North Sea for H2 production, generation and storage.
Multi-purpose Exploration of Ammonia Reduction of Iron Oxides to Enable Green Steel and High Purity (MARIO)
Professor Aidong Yang, University of Oxford
Ammonia as a hydrogen carrier has great potential in decarbonising industrial and energy systems, particularly in the long-distance integration between regions. MARIO will establish the potential of techniques (ammonia direct reduction and hydrogen direct reduction) in steel production, a sector responsible for approximately 8% of global carbon emissions.
Stabilizing the AEM-Catalyst Interface (STACI)
Professor Alexander Cowan, Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy, University of Liverpool
Developing new electrode and membrane architectures of anion exchange membrane wafer electrolysers (AEM-WEs) to increase device stability and build device and system-level models of the new structures. The project seeks to increase the lifetime of AEM-WEs, which are around 40% cheaper than conventional acid proton exchange membrane water electrolysers.
Understanding synergistic effects in Iridium-free bimetallic oxide electrocatalysts
Dr Alex Walton, University of Manchester
Researching oxides of Ruthenium in the use of acid water electrolysis for large-scale and stable green hydrogen production. Ruthenium is an abundant, cheap and comparable alternative to Iridium.
An Ultra-low NOx Emission Catalytic Burner fuelled with Neat Ammonia (UNISON)
Dr Dawei Wu, University of Birmingham
Seeking to improve the combustion of neat ammonia by exploring fuel additive-enhanced combustion or a catalytic burner that enable ammonia-hydrogen co-combustion. Key goals include optimising combustion efficiency, minimising emissions, and providing industry-ready solutions for ammonia combustion.
Novel low-cost, high-performance opto-chemical hydrogen sensors (OptiSen)
Professor Gerard Fernando, University of Birmingham
Developing optical fibre-based sensors that are low-cost, robust and multi-functional for hydrogen storage and transport applications.
Ammonia Release Safety Modelling
Professor Jennifer X. Wen, University of Surrey
Ammonia is an efficient hydrogen carrier and clean alternative fuel for marine transport and power generation. This project will investigate and model safety scenarios that may occur in line with increased global transportation, storage and bunkering of ammonia.
Mitigating degradation and enhancing durability in metal-supported solid oxide electrolysers
Professor Stephen Skinner, Imperial College London
Characterising and testing of power cells to understand the relationships between solid oxide electrolysers and electrochemical performance, materials degradation and predicting the useful lifetime of cells and devices.
Triple Boost Strategy for Low Energy Consuming Catalytic Ammonia Synthesis (Trimonia)
Professor Terence Liu, University of Northumbria
This project aims to implement a systematic, performance-enhancing approach for the highly efficient and low-energy catalytic synthesis of ammonia from atmospheric Nitrogen.
Other core universities within the UK HyRES hub include Portsmouth, Sheffield, St Andrews, Surrey, University College London and Warwick.
See more about UK HyRES at https://www.ukhyres.ac.uk/