In addition to producing hydrogen at the cathode, our solar hydrogen generators are also solar photochemical reactors that can produce a number of different valuable chemicals at the photoanode just by changing the electrolyte, bias voltage, or by adding gases to the electrolyte.
Oxygen:
Our SHG300s produce oxygen at the anode. By weight, 8X as much oxygen is produced as hydrogen. Oxygen is used at refineries to oxygenate gasoline for cleaner burning, and adding even small amounts of oxygen to the air input for blast and other furnaces can increase the efficiency significantly. Another important use for oxygen is in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment; together with the chlorine below and our Visible Light Photocatalysts, Nanoptek offers solar-based solutions to water purification.
Chlorine:
By selecting sodium chloride, potassium chloride, or other chlorine-containing salts for the electrolyte, valuable chlorine gas and chlorine-based liquid bleaching agents are produced at the anode along with the hydrogen at the cathode. By weight, nearly 18 times more chlorine is produced than hydrogen. In addition to being essential for the manufacture of many plastics, the chlorine and bleach solutions are valuble cleaning agents for contaminated drinking water anywhere, but especially in off-grid locations around the world.
Further, the bleach can be used for on-board disinfection of ballast water. This is currently done with electrolysis of seawater, so our units would perform the same way except with 1/2 to 1/3 of the power required for the conventional electrolyzers. The SHG300 flat panel can be used for this application because its good use of global light makes it relatively immune to the ship’s position relative to the sun. If a tracking platform is still desired, it can be very minimal. The Altazimuth CSHG, with its ability to track the sun in two axes, can also be used on deck.