ANEMEL and the push for green hydrogen from low‑quality water

ANEMEL is an EIC Pathfinder project coordinated by the University of Galway that aims to develop robust, long‑lived anion exchange membrane electrolysers able to produce green hydrogen from low‑quality waters such as seawater and wastewater. The project focuses on four linked objectives. First, avoid scarce and critical raw materials especially platinum group metals. Second, design membranes and catalyst layers that tolerate saline and impure feeds. Third, demonstrate reproducible cell and stack hardware up to a multi‑cell prototype. Fourth, embed sustainability assessment and open science practices from the start to favour circularity and faster market take up.

Who is in the consortium and how it is organised

ANEMEL counts 11 partners and associated partners across nine countries including the University of Galway as coordinator, technical partners such as Technische Universität Berlin, EPFL, De Nora, Jožef Stefan Institute, LEITAT, Agata Communications and industrial partners. The team brings together chemists, materials scientists, engineers, sustainability specialists and communicators with previous Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe experience. Project work is structured in traditional work packages spanning catalysts, membranes, cell and stack fabrication, sustainability, communication and portfolio activities.

Key technical advances reported

Over the second year the consortium reports multiple laboratory advances across catalysts, ionomers, membranes, single cells and stacks. Highlights include a platinum‑free nickel‑molybdenum cathode catalyst grown by electrodeposition and characterised at EPFL, ionomer architecture studies led by TU Berlin and De Nora showing that a discrete ionomer interlayer can boost low‑alkaline performance, membrane development centred on fluorine‑free functional polymers and SEBS co‑polymers, and fabrication of a single‑cell test hardware and a five‑cell stack that reached a 1 kilowatt power output without relying on platinum group metals.

Catalysts

WP1 focused on earth‑abundant catalyst chemistries, optimisation of synthesis and scale up to gram scales for lab testing. The addition of Jožef Stefan Institute via the Commission’s hop‑on mechanism introduced metallic boride nanoparticles whose structure may resist chloride attack by forming a protective barrier. EPFL led work on a nickel‑molybdenum catalyst grown directly on gas diffusion layers by electrodeposition. That catalyst reportedly enabled stable operation at high current densities up to 3 A/cm2 and compares favourably with platinum benchmarks in lab tests. The team attributes part of the activity to dynamic surface reorganisation during operation with molybdenum migrating and becoming partially oxidised.

Ionomer and membrane electrode assemblies

TU Berlin and De Nora published a study in Energy & Fuels showing that adding an anion‑exchange ionomer improves ionic conduction and binder cohesion and that applying the ionomer as a separate top interlayer above the catalyst can outperform mixing the ionomer into the catalyst layer for low‑alkaline operation. The experiments compared operation in low concentration KOH, 0.01 M, and in 1 M KOH, and found performance gains persisted. The implication is that interlayer compatibility and interface engineering between catalyst, ionomer and membrane are decisive for performance, especially under low electrolyte conditions that ANEMEL targets to avoid corrosive feeds.

Membranes

WP2 targeted fluorine‑free membranes to avoid persistent fluorinated contaminants and dependence on critical raw materials. The team experimented with functionalised polymers and composites and reported a novel positively charged head group that improves hydroxide conduction and chemical stability in alkaline conditions. To recover mechanical strength lost by heavy functionalisation, researchers embedded functional polymers in fibre scaffolds and shifted toward SEBS co‑polymers as a robust backbone for the membrane. Partners exchanged samples and emphasised attention to scalability when selecting chemistries.

Cells and stacks

WP3 developed a single‑cell hardware testbench with the capability to add reference electrodes to decouple contributions from catalyst, membrane and interfacial resistances. The group also ran simulations of 1×1 cm MEAs to prioritise experimental tests and published in Journal of Power Sources. WP4 assembled a five‑cell stack that produced one kilowatt of power without PGMs, meeting an intermediate target early. Interconnect plates and flow field designs to manage water circulation and gas extraction were developed and a patent application is in preparation. Corrosion from saline feeds remains an outstanding challenge and teams are evaluating steel coatings such as titanium nitride and nickel nitride for interconnects.

Publications, open science and reproducibility

ANEMEL partners published results in high visibility journals including Energy & Environmental Science, ACS Energy Letters and Angewandte Chemie. The consortium reports more than 25 peer reviewed papers and provides data and communication materials under Creative Commons licences on Zenodo. The emphasis on using commercially available membranes and ionomers in some studies aims to improve reproducibility across laboratories.

Sustainability assessment and eco‑design

WP5 drives life cycle assessment work using openLCA and has collected material, energy and waste data across partners to build preliminary impact models. The project adopted a functional unit of one kilogram of hydrogen produced over the lifetime of a 1 kilowatt stack for initial LCAs but notes that scaling assumptions may change mass proportions in larger units. WP5 also built an Excel‑based eco‑design tool to make trade offs accessible to partners without LCA expertise and plans a consortium workshop to refine the model and agree sustainability targets.

MarketHy collaboration and commercialisation strategy

With an EIC Booster Grant, ANEMEL joined ENABLER to form MarketHy, a market study and business development exercise. MarketHy will evaluate AEM electrocatalyst technologies, produce tailored business model canvases, perform techno‑economic analyses, collect process and cost data and model pricing and revenues. A specific focus is a comparative assessment of PGM‑based versus PGM‑free materials in terms of supply chain availability, recyclability, durability and cost to inform commercialisation pathways.

The MarketHy work aims to bridge lab results and industrial adoption by engaging stakeholders, clarifying scale up bottlenecks and defining data needs for TEA and regulatory considerations.

Portfolio activities and wider EU context

ANEMEL sits inside the EIC Green Hydrogen portfolio, nine Pathfinder projects funded under the ’Novel Routes to Green Hydrogen Production’ challenge. The portfolio has nearly €29 million in total EIC support and spans research into electrolysis chemistries, photoelectrochemical routes and biomass routes. The portfolio convenes joint events, shared dissemination and coordinated engagement with stakeholders such as the Clean Hydrogen JU, Hydrogen Europe and regional 'Hydrogen Valley' initiatives. ANEMEL has participated in portfolio assemblies, the EIC Summit and academic conferences to promote cross fertilisation.

Where claims merit cautious interpretation

The consortium reports impressive laboratory metrics such as stability beyond hundreds of hours and high current density operation. These are meaningful steps. Yet moving from lab cells to industrial stacks introduces additional stresses including fluctuating renewable electricity, impurities in real seawater and wastewater, temperature transients and mechanical durability. Chloride driven corrosion remains a core technical risk for stacks handling saline feeds. Reported lifetimes and stability need independent replication under industry relevant conditions, with long duration tests benchmarking against commercial electrolyser lifetimes measured in thousands of hours. The project recognises these challenges and flags corrosion mitigation and materials selection as ongoing work.

Implications for Europe and next steps

If ANEMEL’s approaches prove robust at scale they could reduce reliance on critical raw materials, lower costs and open new deployment models where abundant saline or wastewater feeds substitute freshwater. This aligns with EU priorities to decarbonise industry and build resilient supply chains. The project still faces well recognised hurdles in materials durability, stack engineering and validated LCA results. Next steps flagged by the team include continuing durability testing to multi‑thousand hour targets, finalising membrane scale up, addressing interconnect corrosion, completing MarketHy TEA outputs and running a consortium workshop on eco‑design. Continued open publication and inter‑project collaboration increase the chance that successful elements can be absorbed by industry, but commercialisation will depend on independent validation, manufacturing strategies and regulatory acceptance for impure water electrolysis.

ANEMEL provides a useful example of how EIC Pathfinder funding supports cross disciplinary teams to tackle hard materials and system integration problems. The project is advancing science on ionomers, electrodeposition and fluorine‑free membranes while also engaging with market and sustainability questions. That combination is necessary but not sufficient to guarantee commercial success. The coming 12 to 24 months of scale up tests, independent benchmarking and TEA outputs from MarketHy will be decisive to determine whether these laboratory wins translate into industrial impact.