Comparison
Enzymes vs Platinum

Compared to platinum (Pt) as catalyst, enzymes offer better capacity (number of molecules H₂/sec) and efficiency (Volts) while being significantly less expensive and without the criticality of Pt.

Currently, the most efficient industrial production of hydrogen by water splitting is done using platinum as a catalyst. Platinum is very rare, expensive and not renewable. So currently, green hydrogen is expensive and unsuitable for mass use.

H2GREEN uses a new type of catalyst – ENZYMES – to split water, and produce H₂ or generate electrical energy from H₂.

H2GREEN uses enzymes to catalyse the splitting of water and to produce hydrogen. These reactions happen in the photoenzymatic electrolyser, or enzymolyser. The same enzyme at the cathode can also catalyse the oxidation of hydrogen to produce electricity in the enzymatic fuel cell. H2GREEN enzymes from cyanobacteria (blue algae) are produced by recombinant genetic engineering. Creating enzymatic catalysts that are infinitely renewable, totally safe, and at very low cost. See also: Enzymes and H2GREEN.

The H2GREEN enzymatic system produces green hydrogen that is harmless to the environment and affordable. Hydrogen produced using the H2GREEN system could replace current power sources for mass usage worldwide. It’s the ultimate green energy solution.

Until now, platinum (Pt) has been the most efficient catalyser on the market for splitting water to produce hydrogen. Unfortunately, platinum has many disadvantages that make current hydrogen production too expensive – and not sustainable – for widespread application.

• Platinum is rare and expensive (it costs around 30 EUR/g), so cannot serve to produce enough hydrogen to replace current power sources for mass usage worldwide. Hydrogen is beginning to be used in applications like electric cars and buses.
• Platinum is finite and not renewable but only recyclable.
• Platinum has resource criticality: its rarity makes it a supply risk.
• Platinum’s price evolution is uncertain. It’s subject to speculation, with supply deficit further pushing up the cost.
• Platinum needs to be mined from the depths of Earth. Even when used in the production of so-called ‘green’ hydrogen (See: Hydrogen production), platinum mining itself is bad for the environment.

The capacity (quantity of H₂ produced per second) of current hydrogen production methods, using platinum and other metals as catalysts, is low in relation to the production costs. In other words, it costs a lot to make a little H₂.

By contrast, H2GREEN uses resources much more efficiently and cost effectively. The enzymes used in the catalyst are very cheap to produce and 1g of enzymes produces enough H₂ to supply the energy demand of up to 10 households for a day.

The yield (amount of H₂ energy produced compared to the amount of energy used in the production process) is also low using current production methods.

The more efficient the catalyst, the less energy is needed to split the water and the more electrical energy is recovered from H₂.

The energy yield of a platinum PEM electrolyser is around 70% while H2GREEN enzymolyser’s yield is around 80%  – without the cost of using platinum as a catalyst.