Convion and Elcogen announced the successful conclusion of a field test for an industrial-scale Solid Oxide Electrolyzer system delivering green hydrogen at superior efficiency compared to incumbent technologies.

The partners concluded a test period of 2000 hours of the first Convion Solid Oxide electrolyzer equipped with Elcogen’s cell technology, validating superb performance and good operability. The test campaign included both steady-state operation as well as 1000 rapid power cycles.

System performance was very high with electrical efficiency above 85%, equating to 39kWh of electrical energy per kilogram of green hydrogen produced. In the context of electrolysis, that is 20-30% less electricity when compared with competing PEM and alkaline technologies.

The steam electrolyzer is based on Elcogen’s Solid Oxide cell and stack technology implemented in Convion’s steam electrolyzer system platform. The system was developed in record time based on Convion’s experience in developing Solid Oxide fuel cell systems.

The electrolyzer was delivered and commissioned to a VTT test site in June 2023 where it was tested as part of a VTT-coordinated and Business Finland-funded E-Fuel project. The electrolyzer delivered green hydrogen for a synthetic fuel demonstrator, where the final product was renewable diesel.

The project brought together a group of companies across the entire value chain from sequestration of CO₂ to electricity and fuel production, logistics, as well as users of the transport fuels in different segments of transport: solid oxide electrolyzer (SOEC) by Convion system with Elcogen stack technology, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FT, by Ineratec and VTT technology and catalysts), and water-based CO₂ capture (by CarbonReUse Finland and Andritz technology).