05/26/2024 – 15:41
The Fracture Mechanics and Fatigue Laboratory (LAMEFF) at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) created cheaper and renewable technology to extract green hydrogen, considered an alternative energy source to fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, which cause global warming.
In doctoral research in the UFC’s Engineering and Material Sciences Program, the physicist Santino Loruan created a chitosan membrane for use in electrolyzers that separate hydrogen molecules from oxygen in water (H2O). Hydrogen becomes a fuel gas and can be used as an energy source.
Related news:
The chitosan membrane is made from shrimp or crab shells, widely found on the Brazilian coast, and replaces an imported, more expensive synthetic membrane (nafion). Unlike the nafion membrane, the chitosan membrane does not pollute the environment when discarded.
In the research, the electrolyzer was activated using clean energy (solar energy), which made the entire process environmentally sustainable and that is why the fuel generated is called “green hydrogen”. When generated by solar energy, hydrogen becomes an energy vector from a clean source.
According to engineer Enio Pontes de Deus, coordinator of LAMEFF and advisor to Santino Loruan, “hydrogen, in fact, has no color at all. It is an inert, colorless gas, the most abundant element in the atmosphere. It is green because it is obtained from renewable sources.”
The chitosan membrane was patented by the Federal University of Ceará. “We patented this membrane. Today it is a product, a national technology, which enters the market and starts to compete with other membranes”, describes Enio Pontes.
The invention of the membrane will be one of the innovations presented at the International Conference on Renewable Energy Technologies (Citer), which takes place June 3rd to 5thin Teresina (PI).
The conference will bring together 180 speakers from different countries, in 45 panels in a hybrid format (in-person and remote participation). The organizers’ expectation is that the conference will receive 10 thousand people, including businesspeople who may be interested in the industrial production of the membrane created at UFC and other Brazilian innovations.
Entry is free. In addition to businesspeople, researchers and experts in renewable energy hope to attract a lay public who may be interested in science. “We need to give the population access to scientific production, to contribute to raising awareness about the importance of science and technology for the development of the country and for the development of humanity”, argues Ana Paula Rodrigues, president of the Institute for International Cooperation for the Environment and one of the creators of the conference.
#Ceará #university #develops #technology #capture #green #hydrogen