Intermittent Operation of CO2 Electrolyzers for intermittent supplies like solar and wind

 An electrolyser turns carbon dioxide into a fuel and – for the first time – can operate using intermittent currents. This makes it ideal to integrate with renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, which suffer from major power fluctuations depending on the weather. Researchers from the University of Szeged, mimicking hydrogen fuel cells, by squeezing the anode and cathode against an ion-exchange membrane – an arrangement that resists pressure fluctuations. The cell survived for over 150 hours under intermittent input conditions similar to the irregular power supply of solar and wind farms. This would now make it possible to power CO2 electrolysers  using renewable power rather than having to use the traditional  thermal systems which had to be continuous.

Photo https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00923




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