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India is one of the key countries in the development of hydrogen energy. The country is expected to produce at least 5 million tonnes of pure hydrogen per year by 2030 and at least 25 million tonnes by 2050 will be required to fuel transport, steel and ammonia production. However, to achieve these goals, India needs innovative solutions to modernise production and scale up green hydrogen applications. 

The Hydrogen Technology Expo event in Delhi brought together industry experts to discuss cutting-edge technologies in the hydrogen and fuel cell industries. Nornickel presented its innovative palladium-based developments to Indian experts, suggesting their developments are capable of increasing the efficiency of green hydrogen production in the country.

Nornickel is a leading supplier of a wide range of base and precious metals that improve the efficiency of green technologies. The chemical properties of palladium, a critical metal of the future, are studied at Nornickel鈥檚 Palladium Technology Centre. At the Delhi event, company representatives spoke about the results of their tests and the potential application of palladium products in the global hydrogen industry.

Palladium has the unique ability to split a hydrogen molecule into atoms that pass through the metal and are then reunited into a molecule using the same palladium. Palladium is impervious to other gases. This is why palladium membranes are used to produce ultra-pure hydrogen. The diffusion of hydrogen in palladium allows easy gas recovery at a relatively low temperature.

The palladium prototypes developed by Nornickel have been successfully tested in Russia and have shown improved performance compared to existing commercial analogues. For example, a catalyst for an electrolyser with 30 per cent palladium increases its activity by a factor of three, while the application of palladium in a tubular membrane has demonstrated a fourfold increase in membrane throughput in the production of ultra-pure hydrogen.

鈥淚n the hydrogen energy industry, palladium-based catalysts show efficiency gains at every stage of the production chain, in the electrolysis of hydrogen from water, in transport and directly in the fuel cell. In turn, palladium membranes are used to purify and produce ultra-pure hydrogen, which is needed for microelectronics, solar energy and the production of artificial diamonds,鈥� explains Anna Karzhavina, Head of Commercialisation of New Products at Nornickel.