“If you remember being a kid and blowing up a balloon or into a milkshake, your cheeks got sore because there is an energy penalty associated with bubble formation.”
Paul Barrett, the Dublin-born chief executive of the Australian green energy firm Hysata, is explaining the plan to create the cheapest hydrogen in the world – by eliminating bubbles.
The company, based at Port Kembla, an industrial hub south of Sydney, is using a familiar process known as electrolysis, which involves passing electricity through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen.
But Hysata has developed a special material which sits in the water and which it says makes its electrolyser much more efficient than competing products.
The company says it can produce a kilo of hydrogen using 20% less electricity than conventional methods.
