Startup Naco Technologies has won the prestigious EIC Accelerator grant of €2.3 million to revolutionize green hydrogen production. The total amount of investments and allocated funding is 10 million euros. The goal of the financing is to create specialized nanocoatings and new materials that will replace the need for platinum and other precious metals, which are necessary for the production of hydrogen and its use on a larger scale, informs Aleksandrs Parfinovičs, CEO of Naco Technologies.
Hydrogen plays an important role in the transition to a green economy. It is currently produced from fossil fuels, which produce high carbon emissions. A more environmentally friendly alternative is to convert excess solar and wind energy into hydrogen using the water electrolysis process. The hydrogen obtained in this process is chemically very aggressive, so electrolyzer components need protection with modern coatings. Currently, the most widely used coating methods are outdated and unscalable due to high production costs and use of scarce precious metals.
“We have developed a revolutionary high-speed nanocoating process that can reduce the amount of precious metals (eg Platinum (Pt), Iridium (Ir)) used in traditional catalytic coatings by 10 times. It also provides an opportunity to develop new materials that could potentially replace these hard-to-find elements. We already work with 20 customers, some of which are leading players in the hydrogen industry. We are very grateful for this opportunity and look forward to the challenges that await us to make a difference and power the green hydrogen revolution,” reveals Aleksandar Parfinovic.
“We are proud of the success of our partners, association members “Naco Technologies”. We work together to make green hydrogen production not only the future, but already today. Currently, the association is also working with partners on the development of the “green” hydrogen energy value chain used in transport in the Baltic States and Poland. As part of the project, practical demonstrations of a bus powered by green hydrogen will take place in Latvian cities in June. The goal of the association is for other companies to have similar success in the hydrogen energy industry,” says Aivars Starikovs, member of the board of “Hydrogen Europe” and “Latvijas Ūdenraža Asociacias”, expert of the advisory board of “Naco Technologies”.
Naco Technologies provides catalytic and protective coatings for hydrogen system components such as
such as membranes, anodes, cathodes and bipolar plates. Its technology allows the creation of complex, nanocomposite coatings with excellent properties (precise control of coating thickness from 5 nm to 5 µm, high density, conductivity and corrosion resistance). The high-speed magnetron sputtering technology developed by the company presents a huge opportunity for the green hydrogen industry. It can spray almost any material at high speed and combine them into new nanostructured coatings. PEM electrolyzers and fuel cells play a vital role in hydrogen production and storage, but their dependence on noble materials such as platinum and iridium makes them expensive and less sustainable. The goal of Naco Technologies’ innovative catalytic coatings is to eliminate or significantly reduce the use of these materials, reducing hydrogen production costs and environmental impact. As the world moves towards decarbonisation, green hydrogen has emerged as a clean, sustainable energy source with a wide range of applications from transport to industry. However, the high cost of production has been a major obstacle to its wider adoption. Naco Technologies’ breakthrough technology could help overcome this barrier, making green hydrogen a more cost-effective option for both businesses and consumers.
More about the EIC Accelerator and its awarded investments from the European Innovation Council: https://europa.eu/!yQxXRb.