TU Vienna, Bioenergy2020+ develop method for extracting hydrogen from wood

Oct 10, 2013 - The Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) and Graz-based Bioenergy2020+ have developed a three-step process for extracting of high-purity hydrogen from wood, the university said on its website.

According to TU Vienna, a high yield of hydrogen has already been achieved in the biomass testing plant, located in Oberwart, but the researchers will continue to work on optimisation of the process. Thus, the necessary input of energy and resources should be lowered in order to make the process as economically feasible as possible.

Contrary to traditional combustion, in the current process the wood is turned into gas without flame. Thus, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane and water vapour are produced. The biggest challenge has been to find a way to efficiently "filter out" the hydrogen, the university said. At the end, the scientists managed to achieve hydrogen purity of 99.95%. In addition, the facility is also able to produce district heating and electricity.

Utility Energie Burgenland, which operates the biomass plant, and Air Liquide are also part of the project.

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