Wageningen Food & Biobased Research is working on a new production process for hydrogen peroxide. The process enables local production of hydrogen peroxide without chemicals. For example, for disinfection or oxidation purposes in the food and water sector.
Local production of hydrogen peroxide is not new. For some time, chlorine electrolysis systems have been available for this purpose. However, these use chlorine. The production process WUR is working on forms hydrogen peroxide from water and oxygen using a special electrochemical cell. As a result, the basic ingredients of the process are only air, water and electricity.
No chemicals
This offers several advantages. For instance, it does not use chemicals, which cannot enter the environment as a result. Local production of hydrogen peroxide is also possible. Transport and storage are thus unnecessary. This benefits both the climate and safety. WUR also reports that production can be tuned to the desired concentration and quantity.
One of the challenges in developing such a production process is the production costs of hydrogen peroxide. These have to be competitive. This depends, among other things, on the efficiency of electricity use in converting water and oxygen into hydrogen peroxide. WUR reports that among other things, the choice of materials and the design of the electrochemical cell are crucial for this. This is therefore a focus point during the research.
Materials
The project has been running since early 2020. Since then, the main focus has been on the selection of materials to achieve the highest possible electricity efficiency. Material selection also affects the stability of the environment due to the highly oxidising nature of hydrogen peroxide.
In collaboration with industrial partners ACN Water Treatment, Royal Avebe, PWG (Pure Water Group) and W&F Technologies, WUR is now working to increase the purity of hydrogen peroxide produced. A different design of the electrochemical cell eliminates the use of salt solutions in this process. The parties aim to demonstrate the technology on a small scale in a practical application in 2022.
OxyNet
Producing hydrogen without the use of chemicals is not entirely new. One example is Revaho Netafim, which presented the OxyNet hydrogen peroxide generator in early 2019. The device is aimed at cleaning drip hoses in the agri-food sector.
An OxyNet produces hydrogen peroxide on site from water, air and electricity. The device makes a new load of low-concentration hydrogen peroxide on site every day. This eliminates the need to transport and store the substance. An OxyNet can produce up to 2 kilos of hydrogen peroxide per day.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Image by rony michaud via Pixabay
