Californian-based NewHydrogen, Inc. has today (April 11) reported progress in the development of its prototype “Green Hydrogen Generator” for low-cost green hydrogen production.

Having conducted a systematic acidic water splitting test using a five layer membrane electrode assembly (MEA) stack embedded with commercial platinum and iridium-based catalysts, the company says the benchmarking test confirmed the prototype’s performance was “closely matched with the advertised performance associated with the catalysts commonly used in commercially available electrolysers.”

The tests using conventional catalysts comes ahead of NewHydrogen evaluating the performance of its novel catalyst technology, where it will look to boost long-term stability and hydrogen production rate while reducing energy consumption and overall costs.

In April last year (2022), the company announced that a single-atom catalysts showed better performance than platinum in lab studies, following sponsored research at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“We are very pleased with the results of the recent benchmark testing at UCLA,” said Dr. David Lee, CEO of NewHydrogen. ““We look forward to the completion of the next test phase which will fully demonstrate the performance of our durable catalysts using this prototype set up.”

Lee added, “We believe that our technology will help accelerate the adoption of green hydrogen, providing a clean energy alternative to power a wide range of applications.”

NewHydrogen has said the latest development is a “significant step” toward the goal of developing a novel green hydrogen generator.

According to the company’s website, it has commissioned a manufacturer to custom build a Green Hydrogen Generator, complete with a commercially available alkaline electrolyser, power module, water treatment, and hydrogen gas separation and purification, which will serve as a testbed for its electrolyser technologies.