A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Madras announced their development of a revolutionary technology that allows the generation of hydrogen fuel, starting from regular sea water... if the invention were successful, it would be a turning point for green mobility, as it would be a great alternative to the use of fossil fuels.

Hydrogen would be produced on demand, that is, directly where needed and without the need for storage or transport, overcoming problems related to high flammability.

“As the hydrogen can be produced at the point of use on-demand, safety issues associated with the storage and transportation of hydrogen is avoided,” said Abdul Malek from the Department of Chemistry at IIT Madras, “The solid starting materials can be transported from one place to another place very conveniently. This bypasses the transportation bottleneck associated with hydrogen sector”.

The technology developed by Malek and his team is able to generate hydrogen from any source of water, but their attention is focused mainly on sea water, given its availability. The researchers said the system they invented can allow the user to generate fuel with the simple press of a button, moving water from one compartment to another. The addition of water controls the amount of hydrogen produced, making its flow manageable in relation to specific needs.

The idea would be to make a device similar to a coffee machine, so that any ordinary person can press a switch and produce hydrogen when required.

But how is the invention structured?

The device contains 2 compartments, superimposed on each other. Users can add sea water or tap water to the upper compartment, while in the lower section there are materials that can produce hydrogen by splitting water molecules. As soon as water is sucked in, hydrogen production can occur.
The hydrogen output tube thus produced can be connected via a special pump to car engines and produce electricity.

The question of large-scale costs for this potentially revolutionary invention does however remain unclear…

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/productline/power-generation/iit-m-develops-eco-friendly-way-to-produce-hydrogen-fuel-from-seawater/articleshow/73296049.cms?from=mdr