Embarking on the Development of a 'Sensor System', the Core of Clean Hydrogen Production

[Veritas Alpha = Reporter Park So-hyun]
An industry-academia joint research team consisting of Ajou University, MNTech, Inno-te-co, B-Purple, Korea East-West Power, and Jeonnam Technopark announced on the 26th that they were selected for the 'Development of Explosion-Proof Hydrogen and Oxygen Sensor Systems for Water Electrolysis' project. This project is part of the Energy Technology Development Project hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), operating with a project period of 36 months and a budget scale of 5.6 billion KRW.

'Water electrolysis hydrogen production,' one of the production methods for hydrogen—which is drawing attention as a next-generation clean energy—produces hydrogen and oxygen by electrolyzing water. Because no carbon dioxide is emitted in the process of obtaining hydrogen using this method, it is significantly more eco-friendly compared to the previously widely used fossil fuel reforming method.

However, there have been significant concerns regarding the water electrolysis hydrogen production method as it can produce a highly explosive gas known as 'Brown's gas'. Since hydrogen and oxygen are generated simultaneously in a single reaction cell, Brown's gas can be formed if the two gases mix due to a system (separator) defect or pressure difference. In fact, large and small explosion accidents related to hydrogen have predominantly occurred in water electrolysis devices.

Therefore, in order to recognize the mixing of hydrogen and oxygen gases in advance and prevent it from leading to an explosion, sensor technology capable of accurately detecting trace amounts of hydrogen and oxygen is absolutely necessary. Based on this project selection, Professor Seo Hyung-tak of Ajou University (Department of Advanced Materials Engineering / Graduate School of Energy Systems) and the five companies and institutions will embark on the development of safety sensor monitoring technology for water electrolysis. Professor Seo's team has been devoted to the development of hydrogen sensor technology for over 10 years, advancing sensing materials and device technologies that can be utilized even in extreme environments of high temperature and high humidity.

MNTech, the lead organizer of this project, is a company specializing in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors and plans to advance the Ajou University research team's sensor technology through semiconductor mass-production technology. B-Purple, an AI circuit specialist, will scale this up into an AI-based monitoring technology. Inno-te-co is in charge of developing the advanced low-concentration oxygen sensor technology, while East-West Power and Jeonnam Technopark will handle the field demonstration, planning to directly install the developed sensors in the nation's largest capacity water electrolysis equipment facility.

Professor Seo Hyung-tak of Ajou University stated, "Water electrolysis hydrogen production is an essential technology for clean hydrogen production, and securing safety is the key," adding, "We will strive to commercialize and localize the hydrogen and oxygen impurity gas sensor monitoring technology, which has thus far relied entirely on overseas technology."

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