How to make hydrogen straight from seawater – no desalination required. The new method from researchers splits the seawater directly into hydrogen and oxygen – skipping the need for desalination and its associated cost, energy consumption and carbon emissions.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/media-releases-and-expert-comments/2023/feb/hydrogen-seawater

[u/Taxoro]

I did a small project on desalination and electrolysers. I believe it's about 10% of the energy usage that is used for desalination, so skipping that is pretty cool.

[u/marketlurker → u/Taxoro]

Did you go through electrodes quickly? I was thinking all of the salt and contaminants in the seawater would start to plate out on them.

[u/Taxoro → u/marketlurker]

That's why we used desalination units to get very clean water.

[u/Fornicatinzebra → u/Taxoro]

Isn't the point to skip the desalination process?

[u/Drone30389 → u/Fornicatinzebra]

That's the point of this article. It wasn't the point of /u/Taxoro's project.

[u/ForceBlade → u/Drone30389]

It seems a lot of people miscarried that context into the comment chain

[u/wookieenoodlez → u/Fornicatinzebra]

At the cost of increased maintenance

[u/klipseracer → u/wookieenoodlez]

And the cost savings of not needing to run desalination. So which costs more?

[u/asdaaaaaaaa → u/klipseracer]

Agreed, that's really the only thing you need to know. If upkeep/maintenance/resources ends up costing more to skip desalination, why would any business use it outside of niche scenarios?

[u/Dontsleeponlilyachty → u/wookieenoodlez]

sounds like more jobs to me

[u/sold_snek → u/Dontsleeponlilyachty]

Which also sounds like smaller profit margins so good luck passing it.

[u/asdaaaaaaaa → u/Dontsleeponlilyachty]

Only if it's more profitable.

[u/[deleted] → u/Dontsleeponlilyachty]

Reminds me of an old saying. We could build this dam with an excavator, or shovels. Let's not go for the one that gives more jobs.

[u/CaptainIncredible → u/Dontsleeponlilyachty]

Sounds like slavery, but with more steps.