The eGHOST eco-design work package has just been launched

In October 2021, the Work Package 3 of the eGHOST project, Establishing eco-design product concepts, was launched. All of the project partners will be involved in it for the next year. The objectives of this Work Package are to generate and categorise new product ideas and, subsequently, to develop innovative product concepts that improve the sustainability performance of the two hydrogen products under investigation: a 5 kW solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) stack and a 48 kW proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack. Besides the project partners, external international experts from renowned institutions and companies will also contribute to this work as both a source of product ideas and a support for the feasibility check of the proposed solutions.

This work package is founded on the results of the previous one (Definition of FCH products systems), where a full life cycle sustainability assessment was successfully developed for the two products. The initial use of this methodology allowed the evaluation of potential environmental, economic and social impacts of the products, facilitating the identification of hotspots on which measures should focus to enhance their sustainability. For instance, the results show that the platinum involved in the catalyst arises as a hotspot of the PEMFC stack, while stainless steel would be a hotspot of the SOEC stack. Besides life-cycle sustainability aspects, general design principles such as ergonomics and current regulations will be incorporated into the next steps of the eGHOST project.

Linking life cycle sustainability assessment and eco-design of hydrogen systems.

Adapted from:

https://www.engineeringsolutions.philips.com/news/ecodesign-thinking-workshop/

https://www.worldsteel.org/steel-by-topic/life-cycle-thinking.html