WVU joins the Center for Clean Hydrogen to advance sustainable energy solutions

The WVU Center for Clean Hydrogen team (left to right): Debangsu Bhattacharyya, David Mebane, Ed Sabolsky, Qingqing Huang, Xingbo Liu, and Wenyuan Li join the clean hydrogen ecosystem — pioneering the future of clean hydrogen technology. (WVU Photo/Paige Nesbit)

Researchers at West Virginia University will develop technologies and strategies that will revolutionize hydrogen energy on regional and national scales as part of WVU’s addition to the Center for Clean Hydrogen.

Story by Laney Eichelberger, Storyteller
Photos by Paige Nesbit

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

With an initial $3 million grant from CCH's FY2023 U.S. Department of Defense funds and an additional $2 million FY2024 allocation, the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources was selected to the CCH — a multi-institutional partnership shaping the future of sustainable hydrogen energy.  

Spearheaded by the University of Delaware, the CCH is a collaboration between top experts from Chemours Company, Plug Power, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and now WVU. Its mission, supported by over 100 partners, spans research, education, workforce development, entrepreneurship and component testing at scale to accelerate transition to a low-carbon energy economy based on clean hydrogen. 

When used in technologies like fuel cells, hydrogen produces only water as a byproduct, emitting zero greenhouse gases. On a global scale, clean hydrogen shows promise as an innovative strategy to reduce the world's carbon emissions by 80%. However, existing methods of clean hydrogen production are costly and complex. This is where the CCH comes into play — with the Statler College as its newest star player.  

The Statler College team for the Center features WVU branch director, CCH co-principal investigator, and Statler chair of engineering Xingbo Liu, chemical and biomedical engineering professor Debangsu Bhattacharyya, and assistant professor Wenyuan Li, mining engineering department chair and associate professor Qingqing Huang,  as well as mechanical, materials and aerospace engineering department associate professor David Mebane, and professor Ed Sabolsky. 

In the words of CCH co-founder and University of Delaware Henry Belin Du Pont Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yushan Yan, WVU makes a strategic addition to the Center's portfolio for several reasons. Liu pointed to location, highlighting West Virginia's advantageous proximity to the University of Delaware, creating a corridor between the two hydrogen hubs. 

That's not the only gap that WVU is bridging — pre-existing projects by the Statler College have focused on fuel cells running at high temperatures ranging from 500°C to 900°C, while the University of Delaware has concentrated on low working temperatures from 80°C to 220°C. By combining these complementary efforts, CCH and WVU will accomplish mutual interests and cover the full temperature spectrum of fuel cells. 

Additionally, the Statler College is making efforts to bridge the gap between academia and industry, taking a unique above and beyond, hands-on approach. 

“This is something very unique about what we will do moving forward, because universities typically do the traditional lab-scale scientific research, publish papers, educate the students, and develop early-stage technologies," said Liu. "But to bring that to the market or to work with existing industry partners means to do more than the traditional university work." 

Thanks to the University's partnership with the CCH and the awarded grant funds, the Statler College team will expand on its previous hydrogen energy projects, focusing on addressing the “scale gap” of solid-oxide cell stacks/systems, enhancing the manufacturing of SOC technologies, and explore recycling and reuse of SOCs. 

"[Recycle and reuse] becomes more and more important because most of the materials we are using are critical materials by definition, and need to be recycled," said Liu. "What geopolitics and COVID can tell us is supply chain: you may not always get what you need and want at the time that you need and want it because supply chain can be disrupted. That's kind of unique what we are doing in this space." 

Researchers aren't keeping all the fun to themselves, either — six Statler College graduate students will be selected to contribute to collaborative projects for the Center under guidance of the WVU team. 

As part of this critical partnership, WVU will continue to support the nation’s future in sustainable energy, continuing West Virginia’s legacy of powering America. 

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