Period: 2016 - 2020
Grant: DK kr. 8,9 mio.
Induction heating is known from stove-top cooking elements. With the INDUCAT project, induction heating may become an environmental way of transforming renewable energy into hydrogen. Today hydrogen is produced at large chemical processing plants, such as fertilizer production facilities. However, an inexpensive, efficient, and environmentally friendly method for decentralized hydrogen production is missing.
The market for merchant hydrogen is approximately DKK 40 billion/year in the EU and USA. Consumers are industries that require hydrogen in production processes of e.g., metals, foodstuffs, and glass. The INDUCAT project proposes to deliver hydrogen by establishing small production units carrying out the same chemical processes employed in large hydrogen-production plants, but heated by induction. The hydrogen will be produced from methane and steam, and heated using electric power from transient power sources. Here, we propose an environmentally friendly new method for storing renewable electricity as chemical energy.
INDUCAT will develop a magnetic catalyst that can be inductively heated. The advantages include: heating takes place directly and efficiently in the catalyst, and hydrogen is produced on demand, or when renewable energy is cheap. The smaller induction-heated units can start/stop quickly (as with cooking elements) and are, therefore, compatible with use of surplus power from, e.g., wind turbines. Further, the process can be used to store excess power in the form of commercially valuable gas, hydrogen. A successful completion of INDUCAT will give Denmark a strong, global position within future decentralized and environmentally friendly hydrogen production and electricity storage.
