Sheffield-based green hydrogen and energy storage firm ITM Power said it has achieved a further 40% iridium loading reduction, reducing the amount of the expensive precious metal used in in in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers.

The reduction comes on top of the 80% reduction ITM has achieved in the past few years, making the production of hydrogen more economical. 

ITM, which met the EU’s 2030 precious metal loading target for PEM electrolysers in 2019, said the development of its stack platform, CHRONOS, is proceeding to plan. 

Dennis Schulz, ITM CEO, said: “As part of a structured validation process, we have successfully reduced iridium loading by a further 40% without detriment to performance or degradation. As a costly raw material, reducing iridium benefits stack costs significantly. This loading reduction and our catalyst recovery and reuse processes will substantially reduce our consumption of critical raw materials and further lower our cost.”