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Rheinmetall to begin producing electrode that ‘will double the power density of alkaline electrolysers’
Abstract
German defence specialist Rheinmetall is set to begin series production of a new electrode it has developed, which it claims will double the power density of an alkaline electrolyser, improving its efficiency by more than 10%.
The electrode, co-developed over the course of three years by the firm’s subsidiary KS Gleitlager with funding from the German government, will reduce the production costs of green hydrogen by lowering the investment requirements, Rheinmetall says.
The more current an electrolyser can process, the more hydrogen it can produce from each MW of power capacity.
Rheinmetall says that a pilot production line is scheduled to begin at KS Gleitlager’s factory in St Leon-Rot, southwestern Germany, in 2027, with serial production to follow.
The production line will be designed for electrode dimensions of up to two metres, which means it can be applied to multi-megawatt systems, Rheinmetall states.
The electrode’s performance was tested and validated by KS Gleitlager’s partners in a German government-funded research consortium “Noble Metal-free Electrodes for the Next Generation of Alkaline Electrolysis” (E2ngel), the Germany Aerospace Centre (DLR) and now-liquidated French alkaline electrolyser maker McPhy.
McPhy’s role was to ensure the technology would work in an electrolyser system.
“The use of our innovative electrode technology will make electrolyser systems more powerful and efficient than they are today,” said Karsten Lange, head of E2ngel.
Crucially, Rheinmetall’s electrode requires no expensive platinum group metals such as iridium, commonly used in highly efficient proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers and even some high-efficiency alkaline machines.
Alkaline models have typically used nickel-based catalysts on their electrodes, however Hydrogen Insight understands that some manufacturers are now using platinum group metals in their machines to enhance performance.
“The project goals, which were ambitious in terms of cell voltage and current density, were surpassed,” Rheinmetall says in a press release. “This demonstrates that the precious metal-free and therefore highly scalable electrode technology is more efficient than the significantly more complex solutions based on expensive and critical precious metals.”