Jakarta, August 21st 2023. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, which is found in many chemical compounds. Hydrogen has now been included in the draft update of the National Energy Policy (KEN). One of the uses of hydrogen that is included in the energy transition scenario in Indonesia is for fuel for industrial generation.
Seeing this potential, three students from the Department of Chemical Engineering (DTK) Faculty of Engineering (FT) Universitas Indonesia (UI) class of 2022 offered an alternative solution for fuel called Green Hydrogen. Together as the Grandione team, Shady Haura Fathin, Ghina Athahillah Said Kamilah Rozanov, and Muhammad Daffa Al-Rasyid initiated environmentally friendly alternative solutions for fuel needs.
“We initiated this idea as a form of embodiment of new renewable energy in Indonesia. We see that water is one of the great potential sources of clean and affordable fuel. The earth itself is 71 percent covered by water and 97 percent is sea water. This shows that the abundant availability of seawater can provide an unlimited supply of water if seawater can be used directly as a source of clean energy,” said Shady Haura.
In an effort to achieve the Net-Zero Emission target by 2050, The International Renewable Energy Agency 2021 World Energy Transition Outlook estimates that hydrogen and its derivatives will contribute 12% of final energy consumption, of which two thirds of it will be green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced with raw materials in the form of renewable energy using electrolysis.
“Green Hydrogen is produced by utilizing electrolysis of pure water and seawater. Although both of them can produce hydrogen, seawater is believed to be able to achieve this goal at a lower cost and higher efficiency if it can be used directly by electrolyzing seawater without going through purification first,” said Athahillah.
The use of the electrolysis method is the process of decomposing water compounds into oxygen and hydrogen gas by using an electric current through water. Alkaline water electrolysis method with electrolyte is used which can work at alkaline pH. Alkaline water electrolyzer has a mechanism that works on alkaline electrolytes. In this technological method, an alkaline water electrolyzer is used for direct electrolysis of water.
The electrolyte process will be coated with platinum which will be placed in an electrolyte with a different temperature and pH. One of the seawater electrolysis experiments using graphite electrodes (C) can help in determining the value of the voltage limit and current strength based on the amount of hydrogen produced for further use. In addition, platinum is also used to reduce costs.
“Through the use of sea water, it is hoped that it will contribute to the realization of clean and affordable energy in Indonesia. The use of seawater as an environmentally friendly fuel because it originates from within the earth is a form of exploiting natural resource wealth. This solution is a form of critical thinking of FTUI students as students who excel and are able to compete both nationally and internationally,” said the Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU.
The idea of this environmentally friendly fuel has led the Grandione Team to win 2nd place in Scientific Paper Integrated Petroleum Days which was announced at the end of last May, and was organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) ITS Java Section. This competition challenges students to improve their ability to conduct scientific research and bring new and interesting innovations to the oil and gas industry.
