Australian hydrogen electrolyzer manufacturer Hysata raises US$111M led by bp Ventures and Templewater
10 May 2024
Australia-based Hysata has closed a US$111-million B round with strong backing from existing major strategic and financial global investors. The company said that the investment demonstrates global recognition for its high efficiency electrolyzer (95% system efficiency, 41.5 kWh/kg incl BoP) with intrinsically low capex and a capital efficient path to mass manufacturing.
bp Ventures and Templewater co-led led the investment round in the company—each investing $10 million—with strong backing from existing major strategic and financial investors IP Group Australia, Kiko Ventures (IP Group plc’s cleantech platform), Virescent Ventures on behalf of Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Hostplus, Vestas Ventures and BlueScopeX.
The company also welcomed new major strategic and financial investors POSCO Holdings, POSCO E&C, IMM Investment Hong Kong, Shinhan Financial Group Co., Twin Towers Ventures, Oman Investment Authority’s VC arm IDO and TelstraSuper.
Hysata will use the funding to expand production capacity at its manufacturing facility in Wollongong, New South Wales and further develop its technology as it focuses on reaching gigawatt scale manufacturing.
Hysata’s technology combines engineering and science in a capillary-fed alkaline electrolyzer that uses less energy to convert water to hydrogen. Hysata’s electrolysis design is underpinned by two key innovations: an ultra-low resistance separator; and bubble-free operation. Together, these factors collapse the resistance of the cell and make the cell highly efficient.
I don't understand how Hysata can achieve 95% efficiency with a low temperature alkaline electrolysis system. My knowledge of electrochemistry is limited, but the conventional wisdom from people working on high temperature solid oxide electrolyzers is the high temperature enables higher efficiencies based on thermodynamic principles. For example (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba6118):
"Theoretical thermodynamic efficiency for both H2O and CO2 electrolysis increases with increasing temperature. As the temperature is raised from 25° to 800°C, the theoretical voltage for splitting of H2O or CO2 falls by 20 to 30% [see details in (13)]. In practice, when both thermodynamics and kinetics are considered, temperature-related efficiency gains are far higher"
Posted by: Roger Brown | 10 May 2024 at 07:30 AM
Hysata's web site says (https://hysata.com/our-technology/) that they have improved the energy requirements for alkaline electrolysis from 52.5Kwh/kg to 41.5Kwh/kg. I checked the web site of NEL which is a well established manufacturer of alkaline electrolyzers. The quoted energy consumption of their flagship product is 4.7Kwh/Nm3 = 52.5Kwh/kg (https://nelhydrogen.com/product/psm-series-electrolyser/) which is consistent with Hysata's numbers. If they have really achieved 41.5Kwh/kg it is a gigantic step forward, but getting that kind performance from an alkaline electrolzyer is inconsistent with a lot of published literature.
Posted by: Roger Brown | 10 May 2024 at 08:03 AM
Percent Efficiency is not a good measure to evaluate electrolyzer performance. Bloom Energy with an external steam supply achieves 37.5 kWh/kg or over 100% efficiency based on the HHV of H2 at 39.39 kWh/kg or 3.54 kWh/Nm³.
The Nel A3880 Alkaline Electrolyzer produces hydrogen at 3.88- 4.4 kWh/Nm³ or 42.3 kWh/kg.
https://nelhydrogen.com/product/atmospheric-alkaline-electrolyser-a-series/
(BTW you were referencing their PEM Electrolyzer.)
Chinese manufacturer Longi also produces nearly as efficient Alkaline Electrolyzers.
https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/electrolysers/chinese-are-catching-up-technologically-longi-s-new-hydrogen-electrolyser-is-more-efficient-than-almost-anything-made-in-the-west/2-1-1407074
Posted by: Gryf | 11 May 2024 at 10:08 AM
@Gryf,
Thanks for the information. 3.8kWh/Nm3 to 4.5 is a big range. In their specs for the alkaline electrolyzer NEL lists 4.5 kWh/Nm³ for the power consumption (https://nelhydrogen.com/product/atmospheric-alkaline-electrolyser-a-series/) the same as for their PEM electrolyzer (https://nelhydrogen.com/product/m-series-electrolyser/). Do yo know under what circumstances are they getting down to 3.8kWh?
Posted by: Roger Brown | 11 May 2024 at 01:23 PM
If you have plenty of high-grade waste heat it's hard to be high temperature electrolysis for efficiency.
Posted by: SJC | 12 May 2024 at 11:18 AM
@Roger Brown
Though I am not an expert in Electrolyzer Systems, it appears that based on reference material, electrolyzer systems are designed for a certain nominal or maximal current density and for a corresponding cell potential. There is also scale effect and electric load variability that are factors in developing the system design.
This is a good reference: “Technical and economic analysis of state-of-the-art electrolytic systems for hydrogen production”, page 48 discusses a cell voltage value (1.56 V) that corresponds to the Nel Technologies A3880 with 3.8 kWh/Nm3 of specific energy.
https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/secure/17436/1/tesi.pdf
Another reference:
“Optimal operating parameters for advanced alkaline water electrolysis”,
https://pure.tue.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/223338050/1_s2.0_S0360319922035790_main.pdf
Posted by: Gryf | 12 May 2024 at 12:32 PM
@Gryf,
Thanks for the references.
Posted by: Roger Brown | 13 May 2024 at 12:06 PM