News
Novel hydrogen generation technology using plasma will be developed at RIC Pro-Akademia
Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) has announced the results of the 1st edition of the Stanisława Ulama - Seal of Excellence. One of the 5 foreign scientists who received the NAWA scholarship is Dr. Sergii Bespalko, a young scientist with Cherkasy State Technological University, who will implement the PLASMAHYDROGEN project at RIC Pro-Akademia. The remaining scholarship holders will come to Poland from CERN, University of Southern California, Delft University of Technology and Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento. Parallel to Dr. Bespalko, they will carry out research projects at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw.
Stanisław Ulam - Seal of Excellence Programme is the first mechanism in Poland that co-finances research projects with the Seal of Excellence certificate obtained under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships scheme of the European Commission. The programme addresses Polish universities and research organisation as well as scientists who jointly applied for funding under the activities of the European Commission - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and whose applications received the so-called Seal of Excellence from the European Commission.
PLASMAHYDROGEN project that will be implemented at RIC Pro-Akademia will develop an innovative plasma electrolytic application as a new, highly efficient renewable hydrogen-generating method. To increase the hydrogen productivity and power efficiency of the plasma electrolysis process, which is also referred to as contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE), four possible ways will be investigated. These are: (1) using CO2 and its dissociation product CO as a catalyst (so-called CO2 catalysis); (2) a hybrid approach combining CGDE with subsequent catalytic reactions of the active species formed on the catalyst surface; (3) use of a graphite glow discharge electrode; and (4) realization of the CGDE of water in vacuum conditions.
The project will start in June 2021 and it is planned to run for 2 years. The project will result in plasma electrolytic hydrogen generation for renewable electricity storage as a possible way to compensate for the long-term fluctuations of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. Alternative hydrogen-generating technology and a prototype of the glow discharge electrolyzer will be among the main results. In the future, using this new hydrogen-generating technology for renewable electricity storage will lead to renewables having a greater share in overall generation capacity and will decrease greenhouse gas emissions.