Why pig blood and sea-pineapple shells could reduce the cost of green hydrogen

Vegetarians and animal lovers might baulk at the idea, but Japanese scientists have invented a cheap alternative to the expensive platinum-group catalysts required by PEM electrolysers — by combining iron-rich pig-blood waste with discarded sea-pineapple shells. A team of academics from three Japanese universities took dried blood left over from pig meat processing, and combined it with cellulose nanofibres from the shells of sea pineapples — strange marine animals that eat their own brains after attaching themselves to the seabed, which are eaten as a delicacy in Japan and South Korea (despite apparently tasting like rubber dipped in ammonia). Both pig blood and sea pineapple shells are usually thrown away, while the platinum and iridium or ruthenium used in PEM electrolysers to help split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen are among the most expensive metals on the…

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