USA: Infinity is researching fuel cells for NASA +++ UK: CHUK aims to produce 5.000 tons of hydrogen per day from crude oil +++ USA: Black & Veatch is building hydrogen storage for Mitsubishi Power +++ Bochum: Roland Span receives ERC Prize for basic research on the hydrogen economy +++ Düsseldorf: Dierk Raabe receives prize for research on green steel +++ Events
A selection of PtX topics summarized at the end of the week
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Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc., a manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers for aerospace applications, researches and tests 
Fuel cell systems for NASA's “Game Changing Development” program and its Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. These are air-independent fuel cells that are specifically designed for use in... weightlessness be developed in a regenerative fuel cell system on the moon. The aim is to advance technologies that could one day power an exploration base camp in the complete darkness of the 14-day lunar night, the company said. (Photo: Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc.)
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Clear Hydrogen UK Ltd. (CHUK) has announced the expansion of its contract with Proton Technologies Canada Inc. The plan is to produce hydrogen using old British offshore oil reserves and "capture large quantities of carbon dioxide in the form of solid carbonate," according to a press release. In 2021, CHUK 's founders invested 3,7 million Canadian dollars in Proton to secure a production license for 20 tons per day for the UK and Ireland. The volume of the now-announced expansion is 250 times higher, bringing the total value of the license for 5.000 tons per day to 925 million dollars. The terms of the agreement include Proton acquiring 45 percent of CHUK's shares and providing CHUK with technical support, among other services. Two of CHUK's founders will also join Proton's board of directors.
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US engineering firm Black & Veatch has been awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract by Mitsubishi Power Americas and Magnum Development for the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah. Announced in 2019, the hydrogen center is initially designed to convert more than 220 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy daily into 100 tons of green hydrogen, which will be stored in two large salt caverns. Mitsubishi Power will handle the integration of the hydrogen facilities, including the 220 MW electrolyzers, gas separators, rectifiers, medium-voltage transformers, and the decentralized control system. Construction of the hydrogen storage facility, which begins this spring, is adjacent to the Intermountain Power Agency's (IPA) IPP Renewed project and will support the 840 MW hydrogen-powered combined cycle gas turbine power plant currently under construction. The power plant will initially operate from 2025 onwards using a mixture of 30 percent green hydrogen and 70 percent natural gas. The plan is to gradually expand the power plant to run on 100 percent hydrogen by 2045.
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Roland Span from the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) develops material data models that describe the properties of hydrogen under various conditions and are, among other things, the basis for simulations of liquefaction plants. The project "Thermodynamic Properties for Hydrogen Liquefaction and Processing(ThermoPropHy) 
is intended to tackle work in the area of material data research for hydrogen technology and especially for the large-scale liquefaction of hydrogen, says Roland Span, head of the Chair of Thermodynamics. The European Research Council ERC is funding his work as an “Advanced Grant” with 2,5 million euros for five years. The project will start in October 2022. In addition to funding from the ERC, the RUB is supporting the project with investment funds of 450.000 euros, which will be made available through a large-scale equipment application for research infrastructure, according to a statement. (Photo: Roland Span, © Marquard, RUB)
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Dierk Raabe, director at the Düsseldorf Max Planck Institute for Iron Research (MPIE), will receive funding of 2,5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) for his project “Reducing Iron Oxides without Carbon by using Hydrogen Plasma” (ROC). ). 
The “Advanced Grant” enables Raabe to intensify his basic research “in order to find the most efficient and sustainable way to produce green steel,” explains the institute. The global steel industry is the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases and is responsible for eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. The project "ROCK, THE CAT“ examines two things: using hydrogen plasma instead of carbon as a reducing agent for iron ore, leaving only water as a byproduct, and using moderately reducing electric arc furnaces that combine reduction, melting, mixing and removal of impurities in a single process step. “Our goal is to research the physical and chemical basis of the reduction processes down to the atomic scale,” says Dierk Raabe. “This understanding will enable us to find the most suitable reactors and reducing agents to achieve the highest metal yields with the lowest hydrogen and energy consumption.” (Photo: Dierk Raabe, © Frank Vinken, Max Planck Society)
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Photos
iStock / © Danil Melekhin
