Source: Guangzhou Daily, August 27, 2025

Shenzhen University is leading the development of the world's first 110 Nm³/h in-situ direct seawater electrolysis hydrogen production system that operates without desalination. The kick-off meeting for the Guangdong Provincial Key R&D Program project, titled "Modular Seawater Electrolysis Without Desalination: Technology and System Equipment," was held at Shenzhen University on August 26, 2025.

As part of Guangdong's key R&D initiatives in "New Energy and New-Type Energy Storage," this project aims to establish a comprehensive development path for marine green hydrogen. This path encompasses original principles, disruptive technology, domestically produced equipment, and a unique industrial model for electrolytic hydrogen production. The goal is to maintain a global leading edge in direct seawater electrolysis technology and pioneer a strategic emerging industry with Chinese characteristics: "Marine Green Hydrogen."

During the meeting, experts reviewed the project's main research content, innovations, and implementation plan, offering specific suggestions. After discussion and evaluation, the expert panel concluded that the implementation plan aligns with the project requirements, features clear phase objectives and division of labor, and presents a reasonable and feasible technical roadmap and schedule. The project's implementation plan was unanimously approved.

Opening the Door to Low-Cost Fuel: Pioneering a New Path for In-Situ Direct Seawater Electrolysis

The ocean represents the largest potential source of hydrogen on Earth, making seawater a crucial target for future hydrogen energy development. However, seawater's complex composition – containing 92 chemical elements, numerous microorganisms, and suspended particles – presents significant challenges. These include harmful corrosion and toxicity, catalyst deactivation, and low electrolysis efficiency.

Addressing these challenges, a team led by Academician Xie Heping of the Chinese Academy of Engineering has pioneered a new principle and technology for in-situ direct seawater electrolysis. By integrating physical mechanics processes, such as molecular diffusion and interfacial phase equilibrium, with electrochemical reactions, they have successfully overcome a decades-old challenge in the field. This breakthrough enables the direct use of abundant seawater for electrolysis as if it were pure water.

This technological advancement is set to completely overturn the current model of hydrogen production that relies on consuming pure water, ushering in the era of seawater electrolysis 2.0. As highlighted by Yohan Dall'Agnese, Senior Editor at Nature: "They have perfectly solved the long-standing problem of harmful corrosion in seawater hydrogen production, potentially opening the door to low-cost fuel production and accelerating the transition towards a more sustainable world."

The related achievements of Academician Xie Heping's team were published in Nature on November 30, 2022 (Nature, 2022, 612(7941): 673-678), marking the first paper on direct seawater electrolysis published in the main Nature journal. This work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including selection for "China's Top 10 Scientific Advances in 2022," "China's Top 10 Science and Technology News in 2022," "Innovation Focus 2022 Global Top 10 Innovative Focuses" by Cell Press, and "China's Top 10 Advances in Oceanology and Limnology in 2022."

Image: Academician Xie Heping receiving an award at the 2022 "China's Top 10 Scientific Advances" announcement ceremony.

Building the World's First Demonstration Project: Offshore Wind-Powered, Direct Seawater Electrolysis Without Desalination

Merely 16 days after the Nature publication on December 16, 2022, Dongfang Electric Corporation allocated 30 million RMB in R&D funding and formed an alliance with Academician Xie Heping's team to promote the industrialization and application of this technology. Based on this new principle, Dongfang Electric and the team developed a floating offshore hydrogen production platform (9m×7m×3.5m) and a smart, stable power supply system integrated with offshore wind power.

From May 17 to 26, 2023, this platform successfully completed a 10-day continuous sea trial in Xinghua Bay, Fuqing City, coupled with an offshore wind turbine. This marked the world's first successful sea trial of direct seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production powered by offshore wind energy, without any desalination process.

Image: The world's first demonstration of offshore wind-powered, direct seawater electrolysis without desalination.

In July 2024, the team's 10 Nm³/h direct seawater electrolysis system achieved stable operation for 240 hours, demonstrating comprehensive performance optimization. Subsequently, in December 2024, Dongfang Electric and Academician Xie Heping's team jointly established the world's first land-based testing base for "Large-Scale R&D of Direct Hydrogen Production from Seawater Without Desalination" at the Dongfang Heavy Machinery park in Nansha, 

Image: The world's first land-based testing base for large-scale R&D of direct hydrogen production from seawater without desalination.

Text/Images: Wang Na, Correspondent: Wang Ruolin, Guangzhou Daily/New Flower City

Editor: Li Huiying