UoM secures funding for hydrogen recovery project

The University of Manchester has secured Government funding to support the development and validation of a hydrogen separation technique.

A team of researchers at the University, led by Dr Amir Keshmiri, have received the funding to work with the Powerhouse Energy Group on the project, which is initially funded by the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account grant.

The listed Powerhouse Energy Group works to convert non-recyclable waste into low carbon energy.

The objective of the work is to enable and encourage swifter adoption of local, cleaner, low carbon energy, addressing the growing unrecyclable waste issue while working within the existing waste hierarchy framework.

Any commercialisation of the project would directly support achieving the UK Government’s Low Carbon Hydrogen Strategy target of 5GW of installed capacity by 2030.

Paul Emmitt, chief operating officer and executive director of PHE, said: “The project will allow PHE to edge closer to overcoming significant cost barriers through innovation to deliver the next generation of cleaner energy technology. The pioneering technique, if commercialised, would enable the faster rollout of low carbon hydrogen. The project has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of hydrogen extraction from syngas.”

Dr Amir Keshmiri, associate professor in Computational Fluid Dynamics at The University of Manchester, added: “The collaboration with PHE allows The University of Manchester to be at the forefront of high-impact, game-changing technology development within the emerging clean hydrogen energy sector – also allowing the academic team to capitalise on the bespoke hydrogen models developed to a wider audience.”

Keith Riley, interim chairman and acting chief executive of PHE, said: “I am particularly pleased to hear that the research application has been funded. There is strong competition for academic research funding, and this shows that the production and utilisation of hydrogen as our future source of energy is being taken seriously.

“I also fundamentally believe in industry working with and supporting academia, as this is essential for the future development of not just PHE, but British industry in general. The University of Manchester has been assisting PHE in our technical development and I look forward to continuing this relationship.”