A new electrochemical process developed by researchers at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, could make green hydrogen production more economically attractive by producing a valuable industrial chemical alongside the fuel.

The approach replaces the oxygen normally generated during water electrolysis with an epoxide, a class of chemicals widely used to manufacture polymers, coatings, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and other products. Researchers report that the system achieved 98% efficiency for both hydrogen generation and the parallel epoxide-producing reaction.

The study, published in Nature Communications, was led by Prof. Avner Rothschild of the Technion Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering and Dr. Guilin Ruan, a postdoctoral researcher. The team filed a U.S. patent application for the technology.

Green hydrogen is produced by using electricity from renewable sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. While the resulting hydrogen can help decarbonize industries that are difficult to electrify directly, its wider adoption has been constrained by its cost compared with hydrogen produced from fossil fuels.

The Technion team approached the problem by rethinking what happens on the other side of the electrolysis process. “Instead of producing oxygen,” the researchers sought to generate an epoxide, turning what is normally a coproduct into a potentially valuable chemical feedstock.

In their experiments, the researchers report 98% efficiency for both hydrogen production and the parallel epoxide synthesis. This means, according to the team, that only about 2% of the electrical charge was lost to competing reactions. The researchers also report achieving a current density they say is compatible with large-scale industrial electrolysis.

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