Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, found in many chemical compounds. Hydrogen has now been included in the draft update of the National Energy Policy (KEN). One of the utilization of hydrogen that is included in the energy transition scenario in Indonesia is for fuel generation for industry.
Seeing this potential, three students of the Department of Chemical Engineering (DTK), Faculty of Engineering (FT), Universitas Indonesia (UI) class of 2022 offered an alternative fuel solution called Green Hydrogen. Joining the Grandione team, Shady Haura Fathin, Ghina Athahillah Said Kamilah Rozanov and Muhammad Daffa Al-Rasyid initiated an environmentally friendly alternative solution for fuel needs.
“We came up with this idea as a form of realization of new renewable energy in Indonesia. We see that water is one of the great potentials that can be a source of clean and affordable fuel. The earth itself is 71 per cent covered by water and 97 percent of it is seawater. This shows that the abundant availability of seawater can supply an unlimited supply of water if seawater can be utilized directly as a clean energy source,” said Shady Haura.
To achieve the Net-Zero Emission target by 2050, The International Renewable Energy Agency 2021 World Energy Transition Outlook estimates that hydrogen and its derivatives will account for 12% of final energy consumption, of which two-thirds will be green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced with raw materials in the form of renewable energy using electrolysis.
“Green hydrogen is produced by utilizing electrolysis on pure water and seawater. Although both can produce hydrogen, seawater is believed to achieve this goal at a lower cost and higher efficiency if it can be used by electrolyzing seawater directly without going through purification first,” said Athahillah.
The use of the electrolysis method is the process of decomposing water compounds into oxygen and hydrogen gas by using electric current through water. The alkaline water electrolysis method is used with electrolytes that can work at alkaline pH. An alkaline water electrolyzer has a mechanism that works on alkaline electrolytes. In this technological method, an alkaline water electrolyzer is used to electrolyze water directly.
The electrolyte process will be platinum coated which will be placed in electrolytes with different temperatures and pH. One of the seawater electrolysis experiments using graphite (C) electrodes can help in determining the limit value of voltage and current strength based on the amount of hydrogen produced for further use. In addition, platinum is also used to reduce costs.
“Through the utilization of seawater, it is expected to contribute to the realization of clean and affordable energy in Indonesia. The use of seawater as an environmentally friendly fuel, because it comes from within the earth, is a form of utilization of resource wealth. This solution is a form of critical thinking of FTUI students as excellent students who can compete both nationally and internationally,” said the Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU.
The idea of environmentally friendly fuels has led Team Grandione to win second place in the Petroleum Integrated Days Scientific Paper announced at the end of May, and organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) ITS Java Section. The competition challenges students to improve their ability to conduct scientific research and bring new and exciting innovations to the oil and gas industry.
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Public Communication Bureau
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia