Towards renewable hydrogen-based electrolysis: Alkaline vs Proton Exchange Membrane

Bernhard N D van Haersma Buma; Marco Peretto; Ziad M Matar; Geerten van de Kaa

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17999

Towards renewable hydrogen-based electrolysis: Alkaline vs Proton Exchange Membrane

Heliyon. 2023 Jul 11;9(7):e17999. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17999. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Bernhard N D van Haersma Buma¹, Marco Peretto¹, Ziad M Matar¹, Geerten van de Kaa¹

Affiliation

¹ Technology, Policy & Management, TU Delft, Jaffalaan 5, Delft 2628BX, the Netherlands.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the battle for a dominant design for renewable hydrogen electrolysis in which the designs, alkaline and proton exchange membrane, compete for dominance. First, a literature review is performed to determine the most relevant factors that influence technology dominance. Following that, a Best Worst Method analysis is conducted by interviewing multiple industry experts. The most important factors appear to be: Price, Safety, Energy consumption, Flexibility, Lifetime, Stack size and Materials used. The opinion of experts on Proton Exchange Membrane and alkaline electrolyser technologies is slightly skewed in favour of alkaline technologies. However, the margin is too small to identify a winner in this technology battle. The following paper contributes to the ongoing research on modelling the process of technology selection in the energy sector.

Keywords: Alkaline electrolysis; Best worst method; Green hydrogen; Innovation; Proton Exchange Membrane; Technology dominance.