KTH Holding welcomes Hydroyal AB as new portfolio company. Hydroyal has developed new technology for membrane electrode assemblies- a key component of electrolysers used in hydrogen production. Currently a bottleneck in the growth of hydrogen is scalable and sustainable production of these key components. With Hydroyal’s patented technology large volumes of membrane electrode assemblies can be cost-effectively produced.

 

Hydrogen is set to play a key role for decarbonization and in the shift towards sustainable energy sources. The market for green hydrogen is set to grow by 50% every year to reach hundreds of billion USD. This will create a massive need for large volumes of components e.g. electrolyzers used for to split water into hydrogen. A key component in electrolyzers is the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) which represents up to 50% of the stack cost. Currently the hydrogen transition faces challenges with meeting large installation capacities as well as increasing the efficiency of electrolyzers and reducing the use of rare earth mineral catalysts.

 

To tackle these challenges and building on multi-year KTH research Hydroyal was founded by researchers Burak Koyutürk, Matteo Rossini and Melike Babucci. Hydroyal develops a technology to manufacture catalyst coated membranes at large-scale using roll-to-roll processes. Hydroyal’s unique MEAs are composed of sustainable and inexpensive materials as it is not required to use precious metal catalyst such as platinum and iridium. Additionally, Hydroyal’s MEAs improve stack efficiency enabling production of high purity hydrogen and electrolyzer-friendly conditions (low corrosion environment).

 

“Catalyst coated membranes play crucial role in green hydrogen production. With our technology, we do not only address a critical gap in the supply chain, but also improve the utilization of electricity and reduce the cost of electrolyzers.” says Burak Koyutürk, CEO of Hydroyal AB.

The company has been developed with the support of KTH Innovation for filing initial patents and developing prototypes. KTH Holding AB chose to invest and support the journey to the market. The investment is aligned with KTH Holding’s strategy to focus on deeptech i.e. complex research-based technologies in the very earliest stages of commercial development, especially technologies that address the climate challenge.

 

“Hydroyal addresses the very large and growing global market of green hydrogen. They have a proprietary technology that is really novel and unique and holds great potential for industrialization. We are glad to be an investor taking part in building the company further”, says Daniel Carlsson, Investment Manager at KTH Holding AB.

 

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About Hydroyal:

Hydroyal, manufactures the key component of electrolyzers, membrane electrode assembly (MEA), in large-scale. Hydroyal’s unique MEA is composed of abundant and inexpensive materials and improves stack efficiency with high hydrogen purity and electrolyzer-friendly conditions. www.hydroyal.com

 

About KTH Holding:

KTH Holding invests in early stage start-up companies based on research or education at KTH. KTH Holding is part of the innovation ecosystem at KTH supporting commercialization via investments in companies and intellectual property rights. The aim is to make research, new ideas and knowledge from KTH generate a positive impact in society. The investment portfolio comprises more than 50 companies in many technology fields and development stages. www.kthholding.se