HyperSolar says goodbye to H2-O2 separation process

Oct 22, 2014 - US firm HyperSolar Inc (OTC:HYSR) said Tuesday its hydrogen production technology, which relies only on sunlight and water, will not use the risky and costly hydrogen-oxygen (H2-O2) separation process.

The company’s novel reactor design and system architecture uses a high-voltage solar cell that not only converts sunlight into electricity to split water, but also serves as a physical barrier that prevents the oxygen from combining with the hydrogen after the splitting. Thus HyperSolar does not need to use expensive selective membranes to separate the two pure gas streams.

For HyperSolar this is an important milestone since it would reduce the cost of its future technology. It noted that apart from being very expensive, the membrane separators typically used in gas separation technology need to frequently be replaced. The process is also unsafe and inefficient.

The US company is developing a low-cost and submersible hydrogen production particle to split water molecules under the sun, emulating the core functions of photosynthesis. Each particle is a complete hydrogen generator that contains a high-voltage solar cell bonded to chemical catalysts by a proprietary encapsulation coating. HyperSolar is partnering with the University of California, Santa Barbara on the research project.

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