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					</table><p>Europe and Japan accounted for 28% and 24% of global patents for hydrogen production technologies between 2011 and 2020, a report by the International Energy Agency (<u><a href="https://www.iea.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IEA</a></u>) has said.</p>
<p>Further, the report said that startups with patents cornered more than half of the $10 billion venture capital investment into hydrogen companies worldwide during this period.</p>
<p>Over 80% of late-stage investment in hydrogen startups during 2011-2020 went to companies that had already applied for patents in areas like electrolysis, fuel cells, or low-emission methods to produce H2 from gas.</p>
<p>The patenting data revealed that low-emission innovations generated over twice the International Patent Families (IPF) across all segments of the hydrogen value chain compared to the already established technologies.</p>
<p><strong>Europe’s focus on manufacturing </strong></p>
<p>The European Union has focussed on both acquiring patents and strengthening manufacturing capacity. With significant advancements in the areas of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer and alkaline technologies, European chemical companies specialize in the production and handling of hydrogen from fossil fuels.</p>
<div id="attachment_47770" style="width: 612px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47770" class="wp-image-47770 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Picture1-7.png" alt="Figure 1Share of IPFs in various stages of hydrogen development (Source: IEA)" width="602" height="417" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Picture1-7.png 602w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Picture1-7-300x208.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Picture1-7-600x416.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px" /><p id="caption-attachment-47770" class="wp-caption-text">Share of IPFs in various stages of hydrogen development (Source: IEA)</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>While Germany acquired 11% of the global IPFs during 2011-2020, France acquired 6% and the Netherlands acquired 3%.</p>
<p>To support research, innovation, and the first industrial deployment of the hydrogen value chain in Europe, 13 European member states are <a href="https://mercomindia.com/europes-project-e5-2-billion-develop-hydrogen-chain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">providing</a> public funding of €5.2 billion (~$5.12 billion) to unlock an additional €7 billion (~$7 billion) in private investments.</p>
<p>The global electrolyzer market is expected to rise from 1 GW currently to over 65 GW per year by 2030 under announced government pledges. Europe apart, Japan acquired most patents for alkaline and cutting-edge PEM technologies during 2011-2020. However, these technologies await investments in manufacturing capacity.</p>
<p><strong>U.S. lagging in innovation</strong></p>
<p>The U.S. led in developing PEM manufacturing capacity, but is comparatively slower in innovation, given the reduced number of patents it applied for during the period. There has been a 20% decline in IPFs in the U.S. with the country covering 20% of all hydrogen-related patents.</p>
<p>South Korea and China are the two other countries where patenting for electrolyzer technologies gained momentum, with heavy investments in manufacturing capacities.</p>
<p>The report tracks that the IPFs related to water splitting technology via non-electrolyte methods have also decreased since 2010 and represented 12% of the total IPFs published in the field of electrolysis, in 2020. Patenting in H2 production from biomass or waste increased sharply between 2007 and 2011, but has dropped significantly since then, the report found.</p>
<p>IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol observed, “Hydrogen from low-emissions sources can play an important role in clean energy transitions with the potential to replace fossil fuels in industries where few clean alternatives exist, like long-haul transport and fertilizer production. This study shows that innovators are responding to the need for competitive hydrogen supply chains, but also identifies areas – particularly among end-users – where more effort is required.”</p>
<p><strong>Patents increase among automotive players </strong></p>
<p>Of all the segments competing to acquire a patent, automotive companies realized the importance of on-board hydrogen storage to boost the commercialization of hydrogen-powered vehicles. The</p>
<p>Patenting for long-distance transportation of hydrogen increased rapidly during the period, with compound average growth rates (CAGR) of 12.5% for liquid organic hydrocarbons (LOHC), and 7.8% for ammonia cracking.</p>
<p>In October last year, Amazon said it would <a href="https://mercomindia.com/amazon-to-invest-1-euro-billion-to-decarbonize-its-transport-network-in-europe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invest</a> more than €1 billion (~$973 million) until 2027 to electrify and decarbonize the transportation network across Europe.</p>
<p>India also approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission recently with an initial outlay of ₹197.44 billion (~$2.3 billion). The production target set by the government until 2030 is likely to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/green-hydrogen-mission-to-attract-investment-by-2030/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leverage</a> over ₹8 trillion (~$96.5 billion) in investments while creating more than 600,000 jobs.</p>


Europe Acquired Most Global Patents for Hydrogen Tech During 2011-20


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					</table><p>A group of researchers at the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Melbourne</a> have developed a way to generate hydrogen directly from the air, eliminating the dependency on freshwater resources and providing a new direction for a carbon-free future.</p>
<p>Green hydrogen is considered the ultimate clean energy because burning hydrogen does not release carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases, unlike fossil fuels. Moreover, green hydrogen uses renewable energies — solar, wind, geothermal or tidal in its production. Hydrogen can also store the power produced by renewable sources and complements renewables by offering a continuous power supply.</p>
<p>The team of researchers successfully developed a working prototype of a device that produces hydrogen without consuming freshwater resources. The tech is called Direct Air Electrolyzer (DAE) and works by draining water directly from the air before going through the standard electrolysis process.</p>
<p>The idea came to the lead researcher, Kevin Gang Li while considering how water supply challenges hydrogen production.</p>
<p>Producing hydrogen via water electrolysis requires a very clean supply of water, which is scarce. While purification processes are available, they add complexity and cost to the overall production. According to an U.N.-Water report in 2021, around 2.3 billion people live in water-stressed countries. Moreover, industrial power plants, agriculture, and other industries consume a substantial amount of water.</p>
<p>“We see an area with no groundwater and think it is unsuitable for hydrogen production. But there is always abundant fresh water in the air,” said Gang Li. “Even Alice Springs (a town in Australia), which is part of the desert, has around 20% relative humidity. This is more than enough for us to produce hydrogen onsite using renewable energy,” he added.</p>
<p><strong>What is Direct Air Electrolyzer?</strong></p>
<p>In what appears to be the first report of pure hydrogen production directly from the air, the device produces hydrogen when exposed to air. Unlike electrolyzers that use liquid water, the air is used to feed the device.</p>
<p>Like any other electrolyzer, DAE is made of a panel of metal plates — the electrodes — which supply a current for the water splitting process. The innovation is the porous medium between the plates, soaked with a chemical &#8211; hygroscopic ionic solution that can absorb moisture from air spontaneously. The core of the invention is that this material can take water molecules from the air. Once taken from the air, it becomes liquid and is ready for electrolysis.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-42075 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen.png" alt="Hydrogen" width="941" height="566" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen.png 941w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen-300x180.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen-768x462.png 768w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen-650x391.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen-624x375.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hydrogen-600x361.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 941px) 100vw, 941px" /></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Possibilities with DAE </strong></p>
<p>The innovation decouples hydrogen production from the limitations of the world&#8217;s freshwater resources. It provides economic and environmental benefits and opens vast potential applications wherein pure hydrogen could be generated anywhere on earth.</p>
<p>“Renewables could still be used during the day, but DAE could convert part of the solar to hydrogen, which can be stored, to allow for a continuous supply of power that would remove any reliance on fossil fuels,” Li says.</p>
<p>In the context of high-carbon industries, the DAE may offer complete decarbonization by combining the technology with solar and other renewables currently used to lower emissions. Another large scale-opportunity that the innovation provides is integrating the technology with existing systems to further lower emissions. For instance, if it is paired with gas grids or boosts green hydrogen production. Energy companies could embed it within their existing solar farms and produce sustainable hydrogen for global export.</p>
<p>However, DAE is not set to replace conventional modes of hydrogen production entirely, but instead, be a “perfect complementary.” The device is believed to be capable of easily being upscaled and coupled with renewables. It can generate high-purity hydrogen continuously at a relative humidity as low as 4% and is technically and structurally viable and low maintenance.</p>
<p>A research team from the <a href="https://iisc.ac.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indian Institute of Science</a>, Bengaluru, has found a way to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/indian-researchers-extract-hydrogen-biomass/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extract</a> green hydrogen from biomass, a renewable energy source. In the first step, biomass is converted into syngas – a hydrogen-rich fuel gas mixture – in a novel reactor using oxygen and steam. In the second step, pure hydrogen is generated from syngas using an indigenously developed low-pressure gas separation unit.</p>
<p>A recent report by government think tank NITI Aayog, in partnership with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), <a href="https://mercomindia.com/niti-aayog-ten-steps-make-india-hydrogen-hub/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prescribed</a> ten ways India could emerge as the global hub of green hydrogen.</p>


Melbourne University Researchers Build Device to Generate Hydrogen from Air

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