NewHydrogen, Inc., a new wholly owned subsidiary of BioSolar, will focus on reducing the cost of producing green hydrogen
SANTA CLARITA, Calif., Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioSolar, Inc. (OTC:BSRC) (“BioSolar” or the “Company”), a developer of energy storage technology and materials, today announced that it has formed a wholly owned subsidiary, NewHydrogen, Inc., to develop an electrolyzer technology to lower the cost of green hydrogen. This program will run parallel and complementary to the Company’s existing lithium-ion technology development targeting the high-growth battery electric vehicle (“BEV”) sector.
Some believe that fuel cell electric vehicles (“FCEV”), powered by green hydrogen, or hydrogen produced via renewable means vs. natural gas or other fossil fuels, will represent a major market opportunity in the future of electric mobility. In a 2020 research report, Goldman Sachs estimates that green hydrogen will be a “once in a lifetime” market opportunity worth more than $12 trillion.
Pound for pound, hydrogen contains 3 times as much energy as natural gas or gasoline, and 200 times as much energy as lithium-ion batteries. It is the most abundant and prevalent clean energy in the universe, but as hydrogen does not exist in its pure form, it must be extracted. As of 2020, nearly 95% of hydrogen in the world is made by steam reforming of natural gas (“grey hydrogen”) or coal gasification (“brown hydrogen”). Both sources of hydrogen are basically different forms of dirty, carbon heavy, and non-renewable fossil fuels.
This does nothing to help fight climate change or lead to renewable energy and a sustainable planet. A better and more viable option for the planet is to make green hydrogen from renewable resources such as solar, wind and water. Today, electrolyzer technology is the only commercially available solution for doing so.
Electrolysis, the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in an electrolyzer, has been scientifically proven for more than 200 years. It is a promising and scalable option to produce “green hydrogen” using renewable electricity generated from wind and solar. Unfortunately, high efficiency electrolyzers are expensive and rely on rare earth materials such as platinum and iridium – literally stardust found only in asteroids. These materials account for nearly 50% of the cost of electrolyzers.
“NewHydrogen will focus on developing a breakthrough electrolyzer technology to replace rare earth materials with inexpensive earth abundant materials,” said Dr. David Lee, CEO of BioSolar. “While we embark on this new program in the high growth category of green hydrogen production, we remain committed to our existing battery technology development program with the focus of commercializing a silicon anode capable of improving the efficiency and lowering the cost of battery electric vehicle design and production.”
BioSolar is developing breakthrough technologies to increase the storage capacity, lower the cost and extend the life of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. The need for such breakthroughs is critical to meet the expected demand of the rapidly growing global electric vehicle battery market, which is forecast to exceed $90 billion by 2025. A lithium-ion battery contains two major parts, a lithium-filled cathode and a lithium-receiving anode, that function together as the positive and negative sides of the battery. BioSolar is developing innovative technologies that will enable the use of inexpensive silicon as the anode material to create next generation high energy and high-power lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Founded with the vision of developing breakthrough energy technologies, BioSolar's previous successes include the world's first bio-based backsheet for use in solar panels.
To learn more about BioSolar, please visit our website at https://www.biosolar.com.
NewHydrogen is developing ThermoLoop™ – a breakthrough technology that uses water and heat rather than electricity to produce the world’s lowest cost green hydrogen. Hydrogen is the cleanest and most abundant element in the universe, and we can’t live without it. Hydrogen is the key ingredient in making fertilizers needed to grow food for the world. It is also used for transportation, refining oil and making steel, glass, pharmaceuticals and more. Nearly all the hydrogen today is made from hydrocarbons like coal, oil, and natural gas, which are dirty and limited resources. Water, on the other hand, is an infinite and renewable worldwide resource.
Currently, the most common method of making green hydrogen is to split water into oxygen and hydrogen with an electrolyzer using green electricity produced from solar or wind. However, green electricity is and always will be very expensive. It currently accounts for 73% of the cost of green hydrogen. By using heat directly, we can skip the expensive process of making electricity, and fundamentally lower the cost of green hydrogen. Inexpensive heat can be obtained from concentrated solar, geothermal, nuclear reactors and industrial waste heat for use in our novel low-cost thermochemical water splitting process. Working with a world class research team at UC Santa Barbara, our goal is to help usher in the green hydrogen economy that Goldman Sachs estimated to have a future market value of $12 trillion.
Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, the impact of public health epidemics on the global economy and other factors detailed in reports filed by the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
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