{"id":23036,"date":"2024-05-03T08:23:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T02:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=23036"},"modified":"2025-10-10T13:14:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T07:44:36","slug":"electrolysers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/electrolysers\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Electrolysers?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>About Electrolysers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is an apparatus that <strong>produces hydrogen<\/strong> through a <strong>chemical process<\/strong> (electrolysis) capable of splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen molecules by <strong>using electricity.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Working<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>An electrolyser consists of a <strong>conductive electrode stack<\/strong> separated by a membrane to which a high voltage and current is applied.<\/li>\n<li>This causes an electric current in the water which causes it to break down into its components: hydrogen and oxygen.<\/li>\n<li>The oxygen generated in parallel is released into the atmosphere or can be stored for later use as a <strong>medical or industrial gas in some cases<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The hydrogen is stored as a compressed gas or liquefied for use in industry or in <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/hydrogen-fuel-cell\/\" target=\"_blank\">hydrogen fuel cells<\/a>, which can power transport vehicles such <strong>as trains, ships and even aircraft.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Types of Electrolysers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Alkaline electrolysers:<\/strong> Alkaline electrolysis is a mature and commercially available technology used primarily by the <strong>fertiliser and chlorine industries.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It presently accounts for almost two-thirds of the global electrolyser capacity.<\/li>\n<li>It uses thick membranes and <strong>nickel-based electrodes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proton exchange membrane<\/strong> (PEM) electrolysers: It operates at high pressure, due to the use of thin <strong>perfluorosulfonic acid<\/strong> (PFSA) membranes.<\/li>\n<li>However, the PFSA acidic environment makes it necessary to use <strong>gold and titanium plated electrodes <\/strong>and metals such as <strong>platinum, iridium, and ruthenium as catalysts.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They are the most popular because they <strong>produce high-purity hydrogen<\/strong> and are easy to cool.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) electrolysers<\/strong> : They utilise heat to make hydrogen from steam and are best placed where there is a heat source available (nuclear or industrial facilities).<\/li>\n<li>They operate at high temperatures (500 \u2013 850degrees).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysers<\/strong>: They operate at significantly <strong>lower temperatures <\/strong>of 50 \u2013 60 degrees.<\/li>\n<li>They combine the less harsh conditions of alkaline electrolysers with the simplicity and high efficiency of PEM electrolysers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1: What is hydrogen?<\/h3>\n<p>It is a clean alternative to methane, also known as natural gas. It&#8217;s the most abundant chemical element, estimated to contribute 75% of the mass of the universe.<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>Source:<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/blog\/energy\/domestic-manufacturing-of-electrolysers-can-be-game-changer-for-industrial-emissions-95933\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Domestic manufacturing of electrolysers can be game changer for industrial emissions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Electrolysers  is an apparatus that produces hydrogen through a chemical process (electrolysis) capable of splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen molecules by using electricity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}