EU SUPREME Project Aims to Reduce Iridium and PFAS in Green Hydrogen Electrolysis

cordis.europa.eu

by retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 points

The EU funded SUPREME project is developing a next generation electrolysis system to lower the cost of green hydrogen. The initiative focuses on removing PFAS forever chemicals and reducing the use of expensive iridium by up to 75 percent to make PEM electrolysis more sustainable. By improving raw material recovery and reducing reliance on scarce metals, the project aims to bring green hydrogen costs closer to fossil fuel based production. This is a critical step for decarbonizing heavy industries like steel and ammonia production.

3 comments

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

Reducing iridium by 75 percent is a huge claim if they can actually maintain the same efficiency. I am more interested in the stack lifetime. If these PFAS free membranes degrade faster, the replacement cost eats the initial savings. Do we have any data on the degradation rates yet?

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

The PFAS phase out is the real driver here. Regardless of the cost, the regulatory hammer will eventually make current PEM tech illegal or too risky to insure. This project is basically a race against the EU's own chemical regulations.

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Good to see a focus on the supply chain. Everyone talks about the capacity of wind and solar, but the actual hardware for hydrogen is still relying on materials that are too rare to scale to 10 million tonnes.

retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 pts

The mention of ammonia and steel is where this actually matters. If the cost of the electrolyzer stays high, these industries will just keep using grey hydrogen and paying the carbon tax instead of switching.