Proactive Investors - AFC Energy (LON:AFEN) has made a significant leap in hydrogen power generation technology with its latest advancements in ammonia cracker reactor technology.
The company revealed that its architecture has exceeded initial expectations by consuming only 9.5 kWh of electrical power per kilogram of hydrogen generated.
This represents a 33% reduction in electrical power consumption compared to its previous design in 2023, setting a new industry benchmark.
Importantly, AFC Energy has reached this milestone of less than 10 kWh/kg of hydrogen produced a year ahead of schedule.
This efficiency surpasses the European Parliament's noted requirements for current electrolysers, which demand between 50-55 kWh/kg of hydrogen produced, showcasing AFC Energy's solution as both sustainable and cost-effective.
The company's ammonia cracker reactors now reach full operational capacity within 10 minutes from a cold start, a significant improvement over previous models that required several hours.
This quick start-up capability ensures a flexible response to varying demand profiles, enhancing the practicality and efficiency of AFC Energy's system for a wide range of applications.
Further, the technology's design optimises the use of heat and waste hydrogen byproducts, further minimising electrical power demands.
AFC also highlight the potential for producing high hydrogen purity levels, demonstrated through the successful charging of electric vehicles using its proprietary fuel cell technology with the new ammonia cracker.
This, it said, underlines the feasibility of generating green hydrogen from green ammonia, particularly beneficial for regions like Europe and the UK, where power costs are high and grid constraints exist.
"AFC Energy's market-leading ammonia cracker technology places us in an excellent position to further build out our first series of modular packaged units for customer evaluation," said AFC chief executive Adam Bond.
"We have welcomed many visitors to our larger cracker demonstration utilising prior year's technology since its launch during COP28 in Dubai last year further evidencing the growth in market demand we can expect for our cracker technology."