Compact Hydrogen Generator

Fab Lab Bali's current flagship initiative is Hydrogen Village, a continuation and expansion of Balon-Balon Ijo, one of the Fab Island Challenge from Bali Fab Fest 2022. This initiative aims to aid Bali's attempt to achieve net zero emission by 2045 by introducing the usage and application of hydrogen generated from the sea. For the pilot project, we are working together with the local community to deploy it in their area, a small island in the Bali region named Serangan. But this project has the potential for a positive impact on people living in coastal areas not just in Bali but all over Indonesia since we are the biggest archipelago nation in the world with more than 17,000 islands.

Indonesia is still a developing country, and outside of major cities like Jakarta, Bandung, or Surabaya, many areas still have limited access to electricity due to the significant investment required to build the infrastructure. This results in a heavy reliance on diesel generators for electricity for a large segment of citizens living in those areas. While there is a big push from the government to transition to solar energy, which is a positive move, not many realize the negative implications from the mining operations required to produce all the batteries to store the electricity produced by solar in an off-grid system.

Hydrogen generators already exist, but they are mostly industrial scale (which is massive), or too simplistic (usually used for demonstration purposes). My aim is to build a compact hydrogen generator for household or small neighborhood scale that can be constructed mostly using materials that are relatively easier to source, following the philosophy of distributed innovation.

Sketches

References

Automated Hydrogen Generator by Hyperspace Pirate

Through my search in YouTube, this video is by far the closest to what I have in mind for what my final project will work. It also explain the science of electrolysis extensively and how he design the system to automate the production of hydrogen.

close to 20 L per hour of pure hydrogen.

HHO, not practical. Cutting torch small work

Previous experiment that not work, Alu + NaOH -> costly

Industrially: Methane + steam -> Platinum -> H2 + CO2

PEM -> paper: Fancy membrane / frugal: porous enough to allow conduction but small enough that bubble didn't leave (something like nylon)

Gas or water leak -> PH 13 (sodium hydroxide very conductive)

Water gallon -> anode ring outside, cathode ring inside -> check valve stopping hydrogen

Hydrogen accumulate pushing water level outside up, triggering pump

Electrode 0.4 mm 316 stainless steel (platinum will last forever, this will last several hundreds hours)

PLA & super glue doesn't hold well with the catalyst

How much current for electrolysis? Conductivity chart

Tested amps with 3d printed jig for conductivity, finding V threshold

287 kJ/mol energy to separate at room temp

Hourly production Vth * Current * 3600 / 287000 => moles/hr 1 mole = 24L

Increasing voltage will increase gas production, but efficiency worsen and increase heating

Thats why most electrolysis opt for constant current instead of constant volt. If constant volt, usually used as low as possible. Industrial 2.2 - 2.5V

Components:

• Cell
• Power supply
• Vacuum shut off valve
• Vacuum Pump
• Hall amp current meter
• liquid trap
• 12v convertor for pump
• Fridge compressor
• Arduino

Test HHO -> bang vs H2 -> whoosh

25 amp power supply 5.2V system 5v .2v drop -> 5 watt loss -> heat

relay 5v power supply, lead contact water, trigger pump 3s

hydrogen embrittlement, steel to crack and fail

Aluminium is better for this

hydrogen embrittlementalso exarcubate by moisture, real bad us because we litterally use water Mitigate with silica gel onpump output

Stainless steel release chromate salt, bad for health

Homemade Hydrogen Generator And Compressor Unit by The DIY Science Guy

Kitchen towel t substiitue membrane

Transformer microwave x 2 -> AV to 12v 70A DC (crude power supply)

DIY PEM 2 cathode, 1 anode, 8 neutral plates.

Reservoir to cycle water

Cooling system

Gas buffer bag

https://youtu.be/795kHUInSZU?si=-vBnTq8JRp5AZRZvhttps://youtu.be/jsFWKGr71XI?si=GY00zQSN3PtMA_K-https://youtu.be/VOsIxLhxPWA?si=J_3ncSjWQ2ZkOkZJhttps://youtu.be/4V5UO2BYAaY?si=iJ8V-lEk2lSUUh6Qhttps://youtu.be/nCqU-lU6HDU?si=jy558WjeTOUlHDFuhttps://youtu.be/Qz9VdcvXacQ?si=A4FWaijEUjUV-MLO

THE VOLKS-ELECTROLYZER

Build of Materials

1. What 'packaging' design? Size? Shape? UI? Material? Weather proofing?
2. What electronic components? Input sensor(s)? Output device(s)? MCU features (many pins? wireless? big memory? fsdt speed?)
3. What to program? Describe the function of your project systematically by wrying pesudocode and Algorithms for what you want your project to do.
4. What mechanisms required? Hinges? Gears? Linkages?...what parts to facilitate motion (if any)?
5. What Power requirements and system? What are the voltage requirements of each component? What combined power draw? what power source (battery? green energy? wall plug?)? What wiring and connectors?
6. What core concept? Who will use? Why the project? How much will it cost? Where will it be implimented?
7. Packaging
8. Electronics
9. Programming
10. Mechanism
11. Power
12. Concept
13. Schedule