Voltiana Electrolyzers
Generating green hydrogen
Electrolyzers are machines that separate water molecules into base components:
hydrogen and oxygen. Voltiana electrolyzers are optimal for use with renewable power
sources to create “green” hydrogen.
If we had a hydrogen economy worldwide, every nation on earth could create its own energy source to support its economy, and the threat of war over diminishing resources would just evaporate.
– Dennis Weaver
Powering the hydrogen revolution
An electrolyzer is a machine that uses electricity to break down water into hydrogen gas and oxygen in a process called electrolysis. When the system uses renewably sourced electricity, the result is green hydrogen.
Storing electricity as clean, green fuel
The oxygen that’s left over is released into the atmosphere or can be captured or stored to supply other industrial processes, or even medical gases. The hydrogen gas can either be stored as a compressed gas or liquefied, and since hydrogen is an energy carrier it can be used to power any hydrogen fuel-cell electric application – from trains and cargo ships to buses and trucks, from data centers to steel production and more.
In its most basic form, an electrolyzer contains a cathode (negative charge), an anode (positive charge) and a membrane. The entire system also contains pumps, vents, storage tanks, a power supply, separator and other components. Water electrolysis is an electrochemical reaction that takes place within the cell stacks. Electricity is applied to the anode and cathode across the membrane and splits the water into its component molecules: hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O).
Three main types of electrolyzers
Electrolyzers can be scaled to meet a variety of input and output ranges, from small, local industrial plants with shipping container-sized footprints to large, centralized facilities. There are three main types: Alkaline, Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) and Solid Oxide (SOAC).
Each design works in slightly different ways, depending on the electrolyte material used. Both Alkaline and PEM electrolyzers can deliver on-site and on-demand hydrogen, pressurized without a compressor and 99.999% pure, dry and carbon-free. Voltiana’s Alkaline electrolyzers differ from PEM and Solid Oxide electrolyzers in a couple of key ways.
How Alkaline electrolyzers work
Alkaline electrolyzers use a liquid electrolyte solution, such as potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and water.
The hydrogen is produced in a “cell” which consists of an anode, a cathode and a membrane. The cells are typically assembled in series in a cell “stack”, producing more hydrogen and oxygen as the number of cells increases.
When electrical current is applied to the cell stack, the hydroxide ions (OH-) move through the electrolyte from the cathode to the anode of each cell, generating hydrogen gas bubbles on the cathode side of the electrolyzer and oxygen gas on the anode.
