The study team, led by Professor Z. Jason Ren, tested whether wastewater treated to discharge standards could replace the costly ultrapure water normally required in hydrogen electrolysis. Ph.D. student Lin Du conducted a series of diagnostics in a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer, confirming that system performance declines faster with reclaimed water than with pure water due to calcium and magnesium ions. These ions accumulated and blocked the membrane, restricting hydrogen ion flow.
To resolve this, the researchers acidified the wastewater with sulfuric acid. The acidic solution supported continuous ion transport and stable hydrogen output for more than 300 hours. According to Ren, "Now, you can just acidify it a bit, you put ion-containing water into the electrolyzer, and it lasts for more than 300 hours without apparent issues." The team also found that the acid is recirculated inside the system, and problematic ions remain in solution rather than clogging the membrane.
Cost analysis suggested that their method cuts water treatment expenses by nearly half and lowers energy requirements for water purification by 62 percent compared with conventional practice. Princeton investigators are now evaluating the approach for large-scale use, including tests with pretreated seawater. Separate research led by Jinyue Jerry Jiang identified United States locations where hydrogen and wastewater infrastructure overlap, offering further operational savings.
"We wanted to really look into the possibility of using reclaimed water to enable a national hydrogen strategy," said Ren. "We do both deep technical research and big-picture analytical work to serve both scientific needs and industry needs."
Research Report:Electrolytic hydrogen production from acidified wastewater effluent
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Princeton University, Engineering School
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