Protonic Ceramic Electrochemical Cells for Sustainable Hydrogen Production

Protonic ceramic electrochemical cells can be an efficient tool for green hydrogen production, offering an alternative to the use of high temperatures, since they need lower activation energy than oxygen-ion conduction. By extracting H₂ from the catalytic chamber, the equilibrium of the reaction is shifted, resulting in higher conversions at a lower temperature, and enhancing the selectivity of the reaction. At the same time, this technology allows for obtaining compressed high-purity H₂, intensifying the process.

Sustainable hydrogen production can successfully use proton-conducting cell technology thanks to reactive systems such as methane reforming, ammonia cracking, or water electrolysis.

CSIC (ITQ) will pre-treat biogas from pyrolysis gas waste streams and reform it for hydrogen production using an innovative multifunctional flat BZCY membrane reformer (PMR). This technology allows the single-step production, separation, and compression of H₂ from biogas/methane via the steam methane reforming (SMR) reaction.  Due to the unique operation of the PMR, the process doesn’t require the removal of CO₂ before the reforming step.

Modern technologies, such as water scrubbing, can desulphurise the obtained biogas and directly introduce it to the PMR system. The CO₂ contained in the biogas will remain unreacted along the process and will be collected at the end together with the CO₂ formed during the reactions. Moreover, this stream will contain almost only CO₂, which can be easily captured.