Stockton R&D company unveils new process for producing hydrogen from seawater

Torvex Energy has demonstrated that its unique process can produce H2 using salt water.

Torvex Energy, a Stockton research and development company, recently unveiled a new technique for producing hydrogen from seawater.

The company worked alongside the Material Processing Institute to validate the technique.

This unique method of producing hydrogen from seawater does not result in gaseous oxygen emissions. As such it is clearly quite different from the more traditional water electrolysis methods used to produce green H2. That said, the team behind the production method calls it an environmentally friendly technique.

The company has patents pending on this unique form of electrochemical process. He worked with the Material Processing Institute to establish a proof of concept for this purpose.

Torvex Energy, with the support of an angel investor, spent several years fine-tuning this process to ensure it will produce the highest purity and efficiency for the production of green hydrogen.

Moving forward, it is seeking partners and has entered into discussions with interested parties to move from its current position as a pilot project to commercial production.

The process of hydrogen from seawater is both simple and sustainable.

When this method is used for H2 extraction, it avoids many of the electrolysis methods that produce saltwater toxic by-products. The reason is that these methods usually start with an expensive desalination process.

Moreover, it also usually leads to rapid corrosion of the equipment. These are two of the biggest impediments to increasing H2 production in the world and they are essentially not issues when using the Torvex Energy method.

“Seventy percent of the earth’s surface is seawater, and our team has created an efficient and scalable way to generate hydrogen directly from this abundant natural resource,” said the one of the directors of the company, Rob Hutchinson. “We are confident in the commercialization opportunities for this revolutionary process and are ready to work with like-minded partners to take this exciting technology to the next level.”

According to Hutchinson, this method of producing hydrogen from seawater “could significantly accelerate the hydrogen economy, which is essential to meet the UK’s net zero commitment in 2050”.