SCW – Supercritical Water Gasification

Dutch language video

Input: sewage sludge, garden waste, plastics
Output: natural gas, hydrogen
Method: supercritical water gasification
Environment: super critical water, 221 bar, 375°C

In water under supercritical conditions, organic waste rapidly disintegrates into the useful products methane and hydrogen. It is the same process that occurs in nature, but much, much faster. The resulting methane can be pumped directly into the grid. This is a very significant development for the energy transition, world-wide.

The Netherlands has a potential of 1 billion m3 green gas, sufficient for 800,000 households per year.

[scwsystems.com] – SCW company site
[wikipedia.org] – Supercritical fluid
[gasunie.nl] – SCW Alkmaar maakt belangrijke stappen in ontwikkelen van installatie
[enviro.wiki] – Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO)
[scwsystems.com] – Cleanup gas, the SCW story
[innovatie-estafette.nl] – Superkritische watervergassing: van slib en plastic naar gas en waterstof

Seasonal Hot Cold Storage

Storing heat in water in the form of tangible energy is easy, retaining this energy for a long time is another matter. Founder René Geerts developed the patented HoCoSto thermal buffer by innovatively combining existing materials and techniques.

Quick facts:

Storage medium: water
Volume per unit: 85-1500 m3
Purpose aluminum space frame: purely constructional
Max. storage temp: 90-95 C
Min. storage temp: 0 C
Role heat pump: only for cooling in the summer and heat extraction at the end of the winter. NOT for charging, too low COP.

[hocosto.com] – Hocosto corporate site
[linkedin.com] – René Geerts
[brabantbrandbox.com] – Energieneutraal wonen met ondergrondse warmteopslag
[reference projects]
[rabobank.nl] – HoCoSto draagt bij aan de klimaatdoelstellingen
[rtlnieuws.nl] – Deze innovatie is ‘missing piece’ in de energietransitie

Why British Nuclear Energy Failed

Items below referred to in video, more or less in chronological order:

[wikipedia.org] – Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom
[wikipedia.org] – Coal mining in the United Kingdom
[wikipedia.org] – UK Atomic Energy Authority
[wikipedia.org] – Windscale Piles
[wikipedia.org] – Sellafield
[wikipedia.org] – Calder Hall nuclear power station
[wikipedia.org] – Suez Crisis
[wikipedia.org] – Magnox
[wikipedia.org] – Pressurized water reactor
[wikipedia.org] – Light-water reactor
[wikipedia.org] – Graphite-moderated reactor
[wikipedia.org] – Thermal efficiency
[wikipedia.org] – Central Electricity Generating Board
[wikipedia.org] – Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside
[wikipedia.org] – Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor
[wikipedia.org] – National Coal Board
[wikipedia.org] – Dungeness nuclear power stations
[wikipedia.org] – Sizewell nuclear power stations
[wikipedia.org] – British energy
[wikipedia.org] – Électricité de France (EDF)
[wikipedia.org] – China General Nuclear Power Group
[wikipedia.org] – Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
[wikipedia.org] – Energy policy of the United Kingdom
[wikipedia.org] – Hinkley Point C nuclear power station

Electrolyser Breakthrough – 200 times Less Iridium Needed

[source] TNO electrolyser research test setup. Scaling tests still required.

Dutch national research organisation TNO claims it has found a method to reduce the required iridium for a PEM electrolyser. The way things are, there is not enough iridium production or reserves to realize the ambitious decarbonization plans of the EU.

TNO’s breakthrough is based upon the use of an ultra-thin layer of iridium catalyst. The technique is known as spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (sALD).

It is too early to cry victory, though, as TNO so far merely achieved efficiencies of 25-46% of the current state-of-the-art PEM technologies.

[tno.nl] – Breakthrough electrolyser development: 200 times less iridium needed
[wikipedia.org] – Atomic layer deposition
[deepresource] – Iridium Shortages Threathens Electrolyzer Potential

Iridium Shortages Threathens Electrolyzer Potential

Because the availability of scarce raw materials such as iridium and platinum will become acute in the short term, there is a growing problem for the energy transition. By 2050, hydrogen production in the EU alone will require much more iridium than is currently produced worldwide every year.

[tno.nl] – Shortage of materials threatens planned green hydrogen production
[euractiv.com] – Metals needed for hydrogen production could get scarce, German authority warns
[sciencedirect.com] – Is iridium demand a potential bottleneck in the realization of large-scale PEM water electrolysis?
[wikipedia.org] – Iridium

[woodmac.com] – Why iridium could put a damper on the green hydrogen boom

World iridium supply is currently dominated by South Africa, as a by-product of platinum and palladium production. In 2018 South Africa accounted for 87% of global iridium production, with a further 8% coming from Zimbabwe and 3% each from Russia and Canada, according to the US Geological Survey. South Africa also has the great bulk of the world’s PGM reserves: about 91%, followed by Russia with about 6%, Zimbabwe with about 2% and the US with about 1%, again according to the USGS.

Translation: the BRICS hold almost all reserves. More illustration that Europe is entirely on the wrong path by letting itself being isolated from Russia by the US and its imperial adventures, that even had the audacity to bomb gas pipelines to Europe to ram hyper expensive LNG through our throats. We need to get rid of the US. Europe is the last colony in this world and that needs to end, fast.

Should We Build Batteries in the Ocean?

YouTube text:

Ocean energy storage is a broad category of a whole heap of different methods of generating and/or storing energy in the open ocean. It’s an area that has recently experienced a huge surge of interest, with probably dozens of new startups in the space in recent years, mostly still at very low technology maturity.

The companies that I’ve seen developing ocean energy storage systems pretty much all use one of three operating principles: pumped hydro, gravity and buoyancy.

In this video I’ll talk about how each of these energy storage principles works, and mention some of the companies who are trying to commercialize each type of ocean energy storage.

How a 1 GW Hydrogen Plant Would Look Like

ISPT – Institute for Sustainable Process Technology – We are one important step further towards a Dutch hydrogen economy. ISPT proudly presents the design for an innovative and advanced green #hydrogen plant at gigawatt scale, which can be operational in 2030. The advanced design is a result of the new report ‘Gigawatt green hydrogen plant: Advanced design and total installed capital costs’, which is now available for download.

France to Build 4 Electrolyser Megafactories

McPhy, Genvia, Elogen, and John Cockerill, manufacturers of electrolyzers, will construct new gigafactories in France with the help of millions of euros in public money as part of a €2.1 billion ($2.05 billion) state-aid initiative to make France “the world leader in carbon-free hydrogen.”

These “gigafactories” will set up in no less than seven French regions, all over France, and generate more than 5,000 direct jobs according to figures reported at the end of September by Elisabeth Borne. They are specialized in the production of equipment around this “energy of tomorrow” such as electrolysers (McPhy, Elogen, John Cockerill), hydrogen tanks (Plastic Omnium, Faurecia), means of transport (Alstom for trains or Hyvia for cars) or even fuel cells (Symbio, Arkema).

[energynews.biz] – France to get Four Electrolyzer Gigafactories
[trenddetail.com] – The French hydrogen sector is developing at high speed
[rechargenews.com] – Four electrolyser gigafactories to be built in France as part of €2.1bn state-aid hydrogen push
[politico.eu] – Go big or go green? The EU’s massively expanding hydrogen bet
[argusmedia.com] – France to build 6.5GW electrolysis capacity by 2030 (2020)
[reglobal.co] – McPhy to build a gigafactory for electrolysers in France

Water Electrolysis Kit

YouTube text:

This video demonstrates how to make a Hydrogen balloon using water electrolysis. This method is very cheap & easy. But Sodium hydroxide is dangerous.

Installation of a Sunfire Pressurized Alkaline Electrolyzer

The Austrian food retailer MPREIS aims to save tons of CO2 emissions with green hydrogen. To this end, Europe’s largest single-stack electrolyzer from Sunfire is now going into operation. With an overall capacity of 3.2 MW, the plant splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The whole process runs at a pressure of 30 bar. Since the electricity for the electrolyzer comes from renewable sources, the hydrogen production is 100 percent CO2-neutral.

[sunfire.de]
[demo4grid.eu]