AEM Commercialization

The commercialization path of AEM technology is a phased and systematic process, which aims to gradually expand the scope of technology application, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. So how can the AEM commercialization path be implemented?

  • Meeting retail and mass production needs: For hydrogen demand less than 100 standard cubic meters per hour, these are usually regarded as retail demand, which is diverse and often requires customized solutions. Standardization and rapid deployment are important considerations for the popularization of new technologies. From the perspective of mass production, distributed applications and large-scale green hydrogen consumption applications are two major types of demand forms that run rapidly.
  • Application of megawatt-level distributed scenarios: In this category, one or more AEM hydrogen production container products can be configured according to the size of hydrogen demand to quickly complete the deployment of the hydrogen production system. In the current market environment, the symbolic significance of pursuing green electricity to produce green hydrogen is often greater than the actual demand. Therefore, hydrogen production deployment can be carried out in steps according to the progress of the implementation of the carbon neutrality policy. On the issue of electricity prices, different combinations of electricity consumption can be considered, such as green electricity plus valley electricity, or green electricity plus cold storage electricity price, to further increase the operating hours of the water electrolysis system and reduce operating costs.
  • Expansion of hybrid hydrogen production system: In order to rapidly expand the commercial application of AEM, a hybrid hydrogen production system can be considered in the combination of hydrogen production processes to further reduce the total investment cost. At present, ALK (alkaline electrolysis) technology is more widely used in green hydrogen applications, but due to the characteristics of its diaphragm structure, there are greater safety hazards in operation under frequent start-stop, hot and cold start and high-frequency fluctuation conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to configure ultra-long-term energy storage for new energy to stabilize the electricity conditions, but this not only leads to a significant increase in costs, but the lithium battery energy storage system itself also has certain safety risks. Another feasible solution is to combine AEM or PEM with ALK to form a joint hydrogen production system, using the strong follow-up performance of AEM or PEM to fluctuations to make up for the weakness of ALK under green electricity conditions, thereby greatly improving the system-level life at the system level.
  • Application in large-scale green electricity scenarios: In large-scale green hydrogen consumption scenarios exceeding 10,000 standard cubic meters per hour, pure ALK, pure AEM or pure PEM are not the best solutions, because none of these three forms can completely solve the problem of both safety and cheapness. Therefore, in such application scenarios, the early construction of a hybrid hydrogen production system is a compromise solution that takes into account volatility and cost-effectiveness. Due to the precious metal dependence of PEM, in larger hydrogen production scenarios, the greater the amount of hydrogen required, the greater the demand for precious metals for PEM, so PEM is not suitable for ultra-large hydrogen production scenarios because the cost is unacceptable. In contrast, AEM can be combined with ALK in a hybrid array system in large-scale green hydrogen scenarios, and the early 10%-90% (PEM and ALK configuration ratio) can be gradually transitioned to a larger ratio, further improving the volatility hedging performance of the entire hydrogen production system. With the maturity of the supply chain and the significant improvement in AEM performance and life, AEM will further increase its penetration in large-scale hydrogen production scenarios.

AEM Commercialization - AEM Catalyst Coated Electrodes

However, the technical promotion and commercial extension of AEM also need to be verified from “small” to “large” scenarios. For its verification and implementation, Xu Chi believes that it needs to go through 7 stages of transformation:

  1. Construction and testing of small-scale AEM demonstration system: This stage aims to conduct preliminary technical verification and performance testing by building a small-scale AEM demonstration system to evaluate the feasibility and stability of AEM technology in practical applications.
  2. Implementation and application of megawatt-level AEM demonstration projects: On the basis of small-scale demonstration systems, further expansion to megawatt-level demonstration projects can not only test the performance of AEM technology on a larger scale, but also be an important step towards commercialization.
  3. Implementation and application of multi-scenario megawatt-level AEM demonstration projects: Implementing megawatt-level AEM demonstration projects in different application scenarios will help to comprehensively evaluate the adaptability and reliability of AEM technology in diverse environments and provide solid data support for subsequent commercial applications.
  4. Distributed commercial application of AEM technology: After verifying the stability and reliability of AEM technology, it will be applied to distributed commercial scenarios, which marks the beginning of AEM technology entering the market to meet a wider range of business needs.
  5. AEM/ALK synergistic hydrogen production application in ultra-large hydrogen production scenarios: Explore the synergistic application of AEM technology and ALK (alkaline electrolysis) technology, especially in large-scale hydrogen production scenarios, which can not only improve hydrogen production efficiency, but also promote the application of hydrogen-based energy such as green hydrogen, green alcohol/ammonia, and SAF (sustainable aviation fuel).
  6. Supply chain maturity and significant improvement in AEM stack life: With the maturity of the supply chain and the significant improvement in the life of the AEM stack, AEM technology will have a wider application potential, paving the way for future commercialization.
  7. Transformation from scientific research demonstration to commercial demand: Early customer groups, such as scientific research institutions and demonstration projects, will gradually transform into commercial customers with real needs for AEM products, which marks the growth of AEM technology acceptance and demand in the market.

Through this series of orderly steps, the commercialization process of AEM technology will be more robust and sustainable. Each step is based on the results of the previous step and is gradually advanced to ensure that the maturity of the technology and the market acceptance are improved simultaneously.

AEM technology has obvious competitive advantages in the market due to its low cost and high efficiency. The market demand for AEM electrolyzers mainly comes from research institutions, power plants and other scenarios. With the maturity of technology and market verification, AEM technology is expected to be promoted and applied in a small range in local scenarios. With the continuous development and optimization of AEM technology, it is expected that in the next few years, AEM will be applied on a large scale in a local area, forming an application scale of hundreds of megawatts. The development of AEM technology will push the cost of green hydrogen production into the era of $1/kg, making green hydrogen, green ammonia and green alcohol expected to be used on a large scale in the energy, transportation and industrial fields for decarbonization.

Electrolyzers & Fuel Cell Coating

Hydrogen production by electrolysis of water is the most advantageous method for producing hydrogen. Utrasonic coating systems are ideal for spraying carbon-based catalyst inks onto electrolyte membranes used for hydrogen generation. This technology can improve the stability and conversion efficiency of the diaphragm in the electrolytic water hydrogen production device. Cheersonic has extensive expertise coating proton exchange membrane electrolyzers, creating uniform, effective coatings possible for electrolysis applications.

Cheersonic ultrasonic coating systems are used in a number of electrolysis coating applications. The high uniformity of catalyst layers and even dispersion of suspended particles results in very high efficiency electrolyzer coatings, either single or double sided.

About Cheersonic

Cheersonic is the leading developer and manufacturer of ultrasonic coating systems for applying precise, thin film coatings to protect, strengthen or smooth surfaces on parts and components for the microelectronics/electronics, alternative energy, medical and industrial markets, including specialized glass applications in construction and automotive.

Our coating solutions are environmentally-friendly, efficient and highly reliable, and enable dramatic reductions in overspray, savings in raw material, water and energy usage and provide improved process repeatability, transfer efficiency, high uniformity and reduced emissions.

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