Over the past two years a collaboration between Alternative Energy International and Queensland University of Technology has led to the development of a prototype hydrogen production system for significant scale hydrogen production in a batch process.

The basic process is a simple steam oxidation of metal (iron). The basic chemistry is wqell known, and the major effort has been to develop the system which transforms this well understood reaction into a practical and viable industrial scale process. Given the reaction conditions (greater than 550°C and at a pressure of more than 10 bar), this has involved considerable process engineering development and health and safety assessment.

This paper focusses on the process and benefits of the University-Industry collaboration in such a large development program.