A team from Newcastle has stated that their first thermodynamic chemical reactor is now able to produce hydrogen from water. This is great if you have an electric car, such as the Rasa RiverSimple. Of course, if you work in technical recruitment or even in engineering recruitment then there is a high chance that you have heard of this before.

One of the biggest barriers that people face when it comes to the hydrogen economy is the fact that hydrogen gas is not entirely available. Sure, it is abundant when you look at the universe but when you look at the presence that it has on earth, you will see that it is always part of another compound. You need to break this down if you ever want to be able to access it and this requires a great deal of energy. The energy itself needs to be low carbon in order for hydrogen to be a low carbon fuel too. Currently, hydrogen comes from hydrocarbons and this happens when the electrolysis of water occurs.

Professor Iain Metcalfe has worked hard to try and create his own process which doesn't mix any reactant gases. Instead, he transfers oxygen between a reactant stream. This is all done by a solid-state oxygen reservoir. When you react carbon dioxide and water, you will soon find that this generates hydrogen and then a by-product known as carbon monoxide. The process operates very close to an equilibrium state and this ultimately means that a pure stream of hydrogen doesn't then require an additional process. This is interesting to say the least as it could completely change the way that science itself works. It also means that we could be one step closer to trying to achieve a world that revolves around energy efficiency.