Wales & West Utilities (WWU) is leading a project that will see green hydrogen produced from highly contaminated industrial wastewater sources.
Collaborating with HydroStar and Cardiff University, the initiative will see an electrolyser used for water high in micro plastic and heavy metal pollution, where a pollutant removal process will be used. Ordinarily, this water would be unsuitable for green hydrogen production – a process that requires highly purified water. However, with pollutant removal, hydrogen and oxygen can be produced as byproducts and then captured as high value goods. This will see the energy costs of the pollutant removal from the water recovered.
With the project underway, a prototype is expected to be ready by March 2025 and the combination of low carbon hydrogen production with the pollutant removal process could pave the way for the delivery of lower cost green hydrogen to customers.
Matt Hindle, Head of Net Zero and Sustainability at WWU, said: “We see hydrogen playing a significant role in a future energy system, however, there are currently high operational barriers and costs associated with its production. By using different water sources – be it wastewater like rainwater, or contaminated water from industry, we can make green hydrogen production more accessible and more affordable.”
