Research

There are three essential features of hydrogen. First, hydrogen is a carbon-free resource. Second, hydrogen can be a great energy storage medium. The last feature is its facile transportation characteristic. The global hydrogen production market is $ 148 billion in 2023, and it is estimated to rapidly grow to $ 259 billion in 2033 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.75 % from 2024 to 2033. However, the biggest problem of the hydrogen production industry is that less than 1 % of hydrogen is produced with emitting little greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. Therefore, producing hydrogen using clean methods is necessary and can open an emerging hundreds of billion dollars market in the future.

To replace the gray hydrogen that emits CO2 during its production process, clean hydrogen production technologies, such as blue, green, red/pink/purple, and turquoise hydrogen, are being actively studied worldwide.

Electrochemical water splitting, also known as water electrolysis, is one method to produce hydrogen cleanly. Electricity and heat generated by renewables can be used to split the water to produce hydrogen and oxygen in a two-to-one ratio. There are five major water electrolysis systems and three different half-cell reactions. Our research team is developing next-generation cheap and high-performing catalysts and ceramic solid electrolyte materials that can be utilized in electrolysis cells at low or high temperatures.

Methane pyrolysis is a thermochemical hydrogen production technology that decomposes methane into turquoise hydrogen and solid carbon. The reaction of methane pyrolysis is thermodynamically more economical than water splitting as it has around four times lower heat of reaction. Herein, we study next-generation catalysts, innovative reactor designs, and system integrations.

It is also important to store the produced clean hydrogen safely. For hydrogen storage, a reliable hydrogen compressor must deliver and keep the hydrogen under high pressure and density. However, current challenges in a mechanical hydrogen compressor are low durability due to the embrittlement of the current compressor materials, oil contamination issues, and noise problems. Therefore, our research team plans to develop the next-generation electrochemical hydrogen compressor that can compress hydrogen under high pressure with selective separation of high-purity hydrogen from mixture gases.

To achieve carbon neutrality, also known as carbon net-zero, we have to consider reducing inevitably emitted greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. These two greenhouse gases comprise over 90 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. Making high-value-added chemical products from harmful greenhouse gases is called upcycling technology. Our research team is developing mechanical upcycling systems by combining thermo-electro-chemical inputs. As core reaction applications, our research team is working on dry reforming of methane (CO2 + CH4  2H2 + 2CO), clean synthetic fuel production (e.g., clean gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and heavy oil), carbon dioxide methanation (CO2 + 4H2/H2O  CH4 + 2H2O + alpha), hydrogen carbon waste decomposition, etc. 

CLEAN Lab research team utilizes computational techniques such as smart grid simulations, simulational process design, and artificial intelligence-based future predictions. The technologies we are developing in our lab can be evaluated in the future large-scale system and high technology readiness level (TRL). We provide reasonable methods to reduce costs and maximize revenues by analyzing cost breakdowns through the lifecycle assessment.