Dr Jennifer Hack who organised the event shares her experience.
The event featured two keynote industry speakers, both themselves graduates from the University of Sheffield. Firstly, Qamar Khan from Clean Power Hydrogen, based in Doncaster, spoke about the company’s exciting plans for scale-up of their Membrane-Free Electrolyser™ technology. After the coffee break, Camila Blanco from Northern Gas Networks gave a really interesting presentation about the plans for East Coast Hydrogen, a collaboration between Northern Gas Networks, Cadent Gas and National Gas, seeking to create a 100% hydrogen pipeline network across the Northeast, connecting Teesside, Yorkshire and the Humber.
We also had speakers from two of the University’s large research centres: Andy Heeley from the Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) and Stuart Dawson from the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). Andy presented a whistle-stop tour of the facilities available at TERC, including their recently-installed 545 kW PEM Electrolyser. Stuart gave an interesting overview of the project HYDESS: HYdrogen for the Decarbonisation of Sheffield Steel, a collaboration between a number of steel manufacturers across Sheffield and the AMRC. Finally, academics working on hydrogen within MSE and CBE gave flash presentations on their research, including an overview of the UK-HyRES hub given by the project’s co-director Prof. Rachael Rothman, who also leads the Environmental Theme Lead. Prof. Sol Brown spoke about his research on the potential for regional hydrogen distribution across South Yorkshire, and Dr Jennifer Hack gave a presentation on her work characterising electrolyser materials.
The event was attended by around 70 people across the afternoon, with attendees from undergraduate and postgraduate taught levels, PhD students, PDRAs, as well as academics and staff from across the faculty. This highlights the interest and strength in hydrogen-related research across the university, region and beyond, which will only grow and strengthen in the coming years. A huge thank you to everyone who came, and hopefully see you at the next one!