🇨🇳 China scales seawater extraction plant

Chinese researchers have built a 250kW plant in China that co-produces hydrogen and fresh water from seawater while also recovering uranium and bromine, according to a report on the project. The team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics said the system improves electricity-use efficiency by about 15%.

The design upgrades the established desalination-plus-electrolysis route for green hydrogen, which is typically costly and power intensive. The plant redirects low-grade waste heat from electrolysis into a vacuum distillation unit, producing fresh water at 40–50°C and reducing the energy and water losses that affect commercial systems, where roughly 30% of electricity can dissipate as difficult-to-recover heat.

The team had previously built a 25kW unit in 2023 before scaling to 250kW. According to the study, the integrated system could be commercially viable while adding recovery of uranium, bromine and other marine resources.

#China

@asianomics