Research
Alkaline electrolysis is the most robust and proven form of electrolysis to produce hydrogen from water. Despite the proven technology, there exists no ready-made solution for large-scale industrial applications. The need for such solutions is emerging from the rapid roll-out of electrolysers deployment in novel domains. Furthermore, at Stargate, we strongly believe that alkaline electrolysis technology has a lot of untapped potential left, and we are actively pursuing ways to improve the efficiency and lower the cost of alkaline cells, stacks and systems.
The current State-of-the-Art of alkaline electrolysers
Although alkaline electrolysis technology is often described as being free of precious metals, the fact is that a large fraction of alkaline electrolysers still are utilising electrodes made of ruthenium and iridium which are some of the rarest elements in Earth’s crust.
While such electrolysers boast high current densities and high efficiency, their wider adoption is hindered by raw material availability issues.
Nickel-based alkaline electrolysers face no raw material availability issues but suffer from lower current densities and lower efficiencies.
Beyond the State-of-the-Art
At Stargate, we build upon the best aspects of proven alkaline technology and complement it with breakthrough materials. This results in a completely new class of electrolysers: ceramics-based alkaline electrolysers, that have high current densities, and high efficiencies, yet contain no precious metals. This results in significantly lower hydrogen production costs and makes the electrolysers affordable for the end-users.
Our unique electrode technology relies heavily on scientific research
- 100% the owner of the intellectual property
- fully equipped R&D Centre
- 30+ years of combined experience in hydrogen technologies
- The team has authored 100+ scientific publications in academic journals
- prior experience from Haldor Topsøe, Hexis, Skeleton Technologies, and Bolt
We are collaborating with leading research organisations both on the EU and national level. The non-comprehensive list of partners includes Fraunhofer IFAM, TU Eindhoven, TalTech, the University of Tartu, Enel Green Power, and Naco technologies.
Stargate is a member of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance (ECHA), Hydrogen Europe, Estonian Hydrogen Association, Latvian Hydrogen Association, EU Electrolyser Partnership, BotH₂nia-network, and belongs to Hydrogen Technology IPCEI.
Stargate R&D and demonstration projects
Stargate is participating and has initiated several R&D and demonstration projects.
Important projects of common European Interest - IPCEI
Duration: July 2022 – June 2027
Budget: € 54 m
Stargate’s project has been approved by the European Commission under the framework of IPCEI Hydrogen Technologies. Within the project, a mass-manufacturable and highly efficient precious metal-free 1 MW ceramics-based alkaline electrolyser will be developed and the production of the electrolysers increased to an industrial scale.
The project will be implemented in cooperation with 5 direct and 15 indirect partners from across Europe.
Stargate-led IPCEI’s ultimate goal is to establish first-of-its-kind manufacturing facilities for high-efficiency alkaline electrolysers
Applied Research Project “Developing and Validating Alkaline Electrolysis Stack Technology with Nanoceramic Electrodes”
Duration: July 2022 – June 2025
Budget: € 6.2 m
The main objective of the project is to develop and lab-validate a 0.5-MW alkaline electrolyser stack lab prototype, one of the main components of an alkaline electrolyser. The project is the first stage of Stargate’s IPCEI project, which aims to establish a first-of-its-kind manufacturing facility for high-efficiency alkaline electrolysers.
The project will be implemented in cooperation with 5 direct and 15 indirect partners from across Europe.
Deployment of green hydrogen in public transportation
Duration: December 2021 – November 2024
Budget: € 6.6 m
Stargate is participating in a national demonstration project for green H2 uptake in the transport sector administered by Estonian Environmental Investment Center.
We are open to collaboration. We are interested in both demonstration and research projects in various fields.
Please contact us for more insights.
