• Home
  • Technology
  • Gaming
  • Entertainment
  • World & Business
  • Science
  • Sports
  • AI
HomeTechnologyGamingEntertainmentWorld & BusinessScienceSportsAI
    • HomeTechnologyGamingEntertainmentWorld & BusinessScienceSportsAI
    • Home
    • Technology
    • Gaming
    • Entertainment
    • World & Business
    • Science
    • Sports
    • AI
    AI

    Terraform Industries Produces 99.9% Pure Hydrogen From Solar

    Company demonstrates direct solar-to-hydrogen production with minimal connections in desert test.

    DF
    CH
    AC
    21 Sources, 57d ago, first seen 57d ago

    TLDR

    Terraform Industries ran a vertically integrated electrolyzer stack wired straight to a solar array in the California desert. Observers including engineers and founders reported sustained output above 99.9 percent purity at a cost below two dollars per kilogram. The rig uses a single contactor and avoids conventional grid interfaces. Posts from Danielle Fong, Matt Parlmer, and others highlighted the direct coupling approach and noted Casey Handmer's focus on simplified technoeconomics. No independent verification data appears in the packet.

    Combined views

    134.8K

    21 Sources, first seen 57d ago

    Combined views

    134.8K

    21 Sources, first seen 57d ago

    2K likes
    2K likes
    46 comments
    415 saves
    304 reposts

    Sentiment

    Positive——Negative

    Summary

    Not enough discussion yet.

    No sentiment analysis available yet.

    Featured Source
    46 comments
    415 saves
    304 reposts

    Sentiment

    Positive——Negative

    Summary

    Not enough discussion yet.

    No sentiment analysis available yet.

    Today's Rank

    —

    Not ranked yet

    Today's Rank

    —

    Not ranked yet

    21 Sources

    @mattparlmerBuild more stranded solar for Casey to hook up to
    @DanielleFongRT @hinathan: Progress toward doing the thermodynamic opposite of firing on all cylinders (because that's the goal)
    @CJHandmerThis is called foreshadowing.
    @AndercotThe simple fact is that if @TerraformIndies can make hydrogen for <$1 per kilogram, it becomes cheaper to make hydrocarbons from sunlight and air than mine them out of the ground. (This also makes Casey a decabillionaire)
    @albertwenger@CJHandmer @TerraformIndies Congratulations on the progress!
    @elidouradoRT @CJHandmer: Last week the hydrogen electrolyzer team @terraformindies pulled off yet another first, the sustained production of >99.9% p…
    @anderssandberg@CJHandmer @TerraformIndies "Fossils fuels in the last century reached their extreme prices because of their inherent utility: they pack a great deal of potential energy into an extremely efficient package. If we can but sidestep the 100-million-year production process, we can corner this market once again"
    @WillRinehartTruly incredible things are happening on the timeline. I've been watching this project from afar, so I’m glad to see Casey and his team are achieving their targets. Why this is important: Casey places the technoeconomics first. The conventional electrolyzer stack is expensive. As Casey explains "electrolyzers need to use expensive platinum group metal electrodes, special separation membranes, heat exchangers, pumps, post-processing, and extremely high pressures and temperatures, which further restrict material choices and manufacturing processes." (Source: https://terraformindustries.wordpress.com/2023/08/16/how-to-produce-green-hydrogen-for-1-kg/) But instead of optimizing the electrolyzer, if you sacrifice some efficiency for lower overall installed cost, then you can be economically superior. Importantly, the Terraformer stack has become possible because of the installed cost of solar has dropped so significantly. But that changes the entire calculus. Rather than optimizing hydrogen per kilowatt-hour, you maximize output for each dollar of installed equipment. As Casey notes, "it goes against our intuition about the virtue of high efficiency and high capital utilization." The fact that Terraformer is producing >99.9% hydrogen gas in the desert is proof that Casey’s logic works and the economics might scale. What does this mean in practice? First, it could commoditize the stack. Simplified assemblies and mass production could put hydrogen in the world of appliances. Cheap hydrogen inside a co-located chemical factory could help scale the idea. Over the long term, you could easily imagine a desert site that is too far from transmission to connect to the gird could still be economically viable if the output leaves as methanol, methane, or ammonia. The real breakthrough here, however, is the reimagining of chemical-production system by optimizing the correct variables. That’s incredibly powerful.

    21 Sources

    @mattparlmerBuild more stranded solar for Casey to hook up to
    @DanielleFongRT @hinathan: Progress toward doing the thermodynamic opposite of firing on all cylinders (because that's the goal)
    @CJHandmerThis is called foreshadowing.
    @AndercotThe simple fact is that if @TerraformIndies can make hydrogen for <$1 per kilogram, it becomes cheaper to make hydrocarbons from sunlight and air than mine them out of the ground. (This also makes Casey a decabillionaire)
    @albertwenger@CJHandmer @TerraformIndies Congratulations on the progress!
    @elidouradoRT @CJHandmer: Last week the hydrogen electrolyzer team @terraformindies pulled off yet another first, the sustained production of >99.9% p…
    @anderssandberg@CJHandmer @TerraformIndies "Fossils fuels in the last century reached their extreme prices because of their inherent utility: they pack a great deal of potential energy into an extremely efficient package. If we can but sidestep the 100-million-year production process, we can corner this market once again"
    @WillRinehartTruly incredible things are happening on the timeline. I've been watching this project from afar, so I’m glad to see Casey and his team are achieving their targets. Why this is important: Casey places the technoeconomics first. The conventional electrolyzer stack is expensive. As Casey explains "electrolyzers need to use expensive platinum group metal electrodes, special separation membranes, heat exchangers, pumps, post-processing, and extremely high pressures and temperatures, which further restrict material choices and manufacturing processes." (Source: https://terraformindustries.wordpress.com/2023/08/16/how-to-produce-green-hydrogen-for-1-kg/) But instead of optimizing the electrolyzer, if you sacrifice some efficiency for lower overall installed cost, then you can be economically superior. Importantly, the Terraformer stack has become possible because of the installed cost of solar has dropped so significantly. But that changes the entire calculus. Rather than optimizing hydrogen per kilowatt-hour, you maximize output for each dollar of installed equipment. As Casey notes, "it goes against our intuition about the virtue of high efficiency and high capital utilization." The fact that Terraformer is producing >99.9% hydrogen gas in the desert is proof that Casey’s logic works and the economics might scale. What does this mean in practice? First, it could commoditize the stack. Simplified assemblies and mass production could put hydrogen in the world of appliances. Cheap hydrogen inside a co-located chemical factory could help scale the idea. Over the long term, you could easily imagine a desert site that is too far from transmission to connect to the gird could still be economically viable if the output leaves as methanol, methane, or ammonia. The real breakthrough here, however, is the reimagining of chemical-production system by optimizing the correct variables. That’s incredibly powerful.