EMPOWERING THE FUTURE OF ENERGY

A closer look at hydrogen’s role in the energy transition

BY MINES STAFF

Hydrogen has emerged as a key player in the energy transition, identified by the International Energy Agency as a “versatile energy carrier” that has a diverse range of applications and can be deployed in a variety of sectors. But is hydrogen a moonshot? Or does it really have the potential to change the energy game?

At Mines, teams of researchers are working on the hydrogen problem—from developing electrolyzers to separate hydrogen from other energy sources to developing and testing the ceramic materials in fuel cells and making them commercially viable and cost-effective. And they will tell you that hydrogen truly has the potential to supplement the world’s energy profile in meaningful ways and help us successfully navigate the energy transition.

We talked to researchers working on projects across the scope of this issue to take a deeper dive into hydrogen technology, the challenges researchers are facing in this work today and how they’re overcoming them and what the future looks like when powered by hydrogen.

Colorado Fuel Cell Center

Created in 2005, the Colorado Fuel Cell Center is a research center housed on the Mines campus that seeks to advance fuel-cell and electrochemical research, development and commercialization to address demands in electricity generation and storage. Mines faculty across disciplines actively perform research and bring diverse perspective to the field, and close ties with industry partners enables the center to meet today’s technological development needs.

Scope

• Proton-conducting ceramic fuel cells and electrolyzers

• Solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) development and testing

• Fuel processing

• Modeling and simulation

• Advanced materials processing and evaluation

• Manufacturing technology development

• Systems integration