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Unless otherwise stated or the context requires otherwise, references in this annual report on Form 10-K to “Hypersolar”, the “Company”, “we”, “us”, or “our” refer to Hypersolar, Inc.
Overview
Inspired by the photosynthetic process that plants use to harness the power of the sun to create energy molecules, Hypersolar, Inc. we are developing a novel solar-powered nanoparticle system that mimics photosynthesis to separate hydrogen from water. On November 15, 2011, we filed a patent application to protect the intellectual property rights to the production of renewable hydrogen and natural gas using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Our technology will allow free hydrogen to be reacted with carbon dioxide to produce methane, the primary component in natural gas.
Hydrogen is the lightest and abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the universe's chemical elemental mass (Palmer, D. (13 September 1997). "Hydrogen in the Universe". NASA). However, naturally occurring elemental hydrogen is relatively rare on earth and hydrogen gas is most often produced using fossil fuels. Industrial production is mainly from the steam reforming of natural gas and is usually employed near its production site, with the two largest uses being crude oil processing (hydrocracking) and ammonia production, mostly for the fertilizer market. We are developing what we believe is a cleaner and greener way to produce this high value product.
In addition to the many industrial uses of hydrogen, one of the most intriguing uses, is for fuel cells for transportation. A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent, using hydrogen as the most common fuel. Although there are currently no fuel cell vehicles available for commercial sale, carmakers are hopeful that hydrogen fuel cells and infrastructure technologies will be developed in the future. (http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/)
Market Opportunity
Hydrogen has number of applications from chemical processing, petroleum recovery and refining, metal production and fabrication, aerospace, and fuel cells. The sectors with the greatest demand for hydrogen are petroleum refineries for hydrocracking and ammonia production for fertilizer. Transportation fuel is an emerging sector which we believe has an enormous potential in the future. We believe fuel cell technology will be the major growth driver of hydrogen in the future as many major automobile manufacturers such as Honda and Nissan bring hydrogen powered cars to market.
Hydrogen production is a large and growing industry. Market size of global hydrogen production was estimated to be 53 million metric tons in 2010, of which 12% was shared by merchant hydrogen and rest with captive production (Markets and Markets Research; Hydrogen Generation Market). With decreasing sulfur level in petroleum products, lowering crude oil quality and rising demand of hydrogen operated fuel cell applications, global hydrogen production volume is forecasted to grow by compound annual growth rate of 5.6% from 2011 to 2016. The hydrogen production market in terms of value was estimated to be approximately $82 billion in 2011. (Markets and Markets Research; Hydrogen Generation Market)
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Our Technology
Nanotechnology for Making Renewable Hydrogen from Sunlight
Hydrogen (H2) is the third most abundant element on earth and cleanest fuel in the universe, (Dresselhaus, Mildred et al. (May 15, 2003). "Basic Research Needs for the Hydrogen Economy). Unlike hydrocarbon fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, where carbon dioxide and other contaminants are released into the atmosphere when used, hydrogen fuel usage produces only pure water (H2O) as the byproduct. Unfortunately, pure hydrogen does not exist naturally on earth and therefore must be manufactured. Historically, the cost of manufacturing hydrogen as an alternative fuel has been higher than the cost of the energy used to make it. This is the dilemma of the hydrogen Economy, and one that we aim to address.
For over a century, splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis has been well known. This technology can be used to produce an unlimited amount of clean and renewable hydrogen fuel to power a carbon-free world. However, in practice, current commercial electrolysis technologies require (a) expensive electricity, and (b) highly purified water to prevent fouling of system components. We believe these are the major barriers to affordable production of renewable hydrogen.
The Perfect and Sustainable Energy Cycle
As it turns out, Mother Nature has been making hydrogen using sunlight since the beginning of time by splitting water molecules (H2O) into its basic elements - hydrogen and oxygen. This is exactly what plant leaves do every day using photosynthesis. Since the produced hydrogen is immediately consumed inside the plant, we cannot simply grow trees to make hydrogen.
If technology can be developed to mimic photosynthesis to split water into hydrogen, then a truly sustainable, low cost, and renewable energy cycle can be created to power the earth. However, cost has been the biggest barrier to realizing this vision.
Water Splitting
In the process of splitting a water molecule, input energy is transferred into the chemical bonds of the resulting hydrogen molecule. So in essence, manufactured hydrogen is simply a carrier or battery-like storage of the input energy. If the input energy is from fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, then dirty carbon fossil fuel energy is simply transferred into hydrogen. If the input energy is renewable such as solar and wind, then new and clean energy is stored in hydrogen.
While the concept of water splitting is very appealing, the following challenges must be addressed for renewable hydrogen to be commercially viable:
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Energy Inefficiency — Since hydrogen is an energy carrier, the most energy it can store is 100% of the input energy. However, conventional systems approach to electrolysis lose so much of the input energy in system components, wires and electrodes resulting in only a small portion of electricity making it into the hydrogen molecules. This translates to high production cost and is the fundamental problem with water splitting for hydrogen production. We intend to address this problem with our low cost and energy efficient nanoparticle technology.
Need for Clean Water — Conventional electrolysis requires highly purified clean water to prevent fouling of system components. This prevents current technology from using large quantities of available water from oceans, rivers, industrial waste and municipal waste as feedstock. Our technology is being designed to use any natural water or waste water for the unlimited production of renewable hydrogen.
Electrolysis water-splitting in its simplest form is the transfer of "input electrons" in the following chemical reactions:
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Cathode (reduction): 2 H2O + 2e- -> H2 + 2 OH-
Anode (oxidation): 4 OH- -> O2 + 2 H2O + 4 e-
From these equations it can be deduced that if every input electron (e-) is put to work and not lost, then a maximum amount of input electrons (i.e. energy) is transferred and stored in the hydrogen molecules (H2). Additionally, if there were a very high number of cathode and anode reaction areas within a given volume of water, then a very high number of these reactions could happen simultaneously throughout the medium to split each water molecule into hydrogen wherever electrons are available.
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To address this fundamental electron transfer efficiency problem, we are developing a novel nanoparticle to maximally ensure that every single electron is put to work in splitting a water molecule. Our nanoparticle has two very important features: