Dr. Lourdes Vega Speaks at Panel on the “Challenges and opportunities for green hydrogen production”
Dr. Lourdes Vega, Director of the Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and H2 (RICH) and Professor of Chemical Engineering at KU, participated in a panel on the “Challenges and opportunities for green hydrogen production,” which was hosted by the Chemical Engineering Department of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, on Monday, 7 December 2020.
During the panel, she spoke about the how the hydrogen economy can help tackle various critical energy challenges while also strengthening energy security.
Following is an overview of Dr. Vega’s talk during the panel:
Of special interest to the region is the production of hydrogen using the available resources. In 1982, it was found that RuO2-loaded CdS-particles dispersed in aqueous sulfide solutions could split H2S into hydrogen and sulfur under visible light illumination, which indicated the possibility of operating industrial procedures for H2S splitting. From a thermodynamic viewpoint, the direct decomposition of H2S requires much less energy than H2O splitting indicating that H2S decomposition is theoretically a more favorable route for H2 generation. After a general overview, I will present some of the work we are doing on materials and process for producing green hydrogen, focused on photocatalytic water splitting and hydrogen sulfide conversion. A combined computational modeling-experimental approach is used for this purpose, in which DFT calculations allow to investigate reaction mechanisms and to predict unknown properties, guiding the search for the optimal photocatalytic material. Results on our work on materials for high-capacity, reliable-availability H2 storage including storage in porous media (MOFs and hybrid materials) will also be presented. Finally, I will give some perspectives on key challenges and opportunities for large-scale hydrogen utilization.
