(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

For decades, West Virginia’s representatives in Washington, D.C., tried to impress upon their colleagues the importance of directing more research funding to West Virginia University — where great progress is being made in fields ranging from neuroscience to forensic science to education.

Though the folks in D.C. have been slow to understand, others are taking note. West Virginia University is now part of the Center for Clean Hydrogen, a partnership that includes not only WVU but the University of Delaware, the Chemours Company, Plug Power and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The CCH says its work is meant to “help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future.”

The Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources will be an important part of that transition and has, as WVU recently noted, received an initial grant of $3 million from the CCH in FY 2023 and another $2 million in FY 2024.

Among the reasons WVU is worthy of that kind of support is its situation in the heart of the region most affected by our energy transition, and its willingness to avoid academia for academia’s sake.

“This is something very unique about what we will do moving forward, because universities typically do the traditional lab-scale scientific research, publish papers, educate the students, and develop early-stage technologies,” said Statler Chair of Engineering Xingbo Liu. “But to bring that to the market or to work with existing industry partners means to do more than the traditional university work.”

Among the tasks for WVU in this partnership will be to “expand on its previous hydrogen energy projects, focusing on addressing the ‘scale gap’ of solid-oxide cell stacks/systems, enhancing the manufacturing of SOC technologies, and explore recycling and reuse of SOCs.”

[Recycle and reuse] “becomes more and more important because most of the materials we are using are critical materials by definition, and need to be recycled,” Liu said. “What geopolitics and COVID can tell us is supply chain: You may not always get what you need and want at the time that you need and want it because supply chain can be disrupted. That’s kind of unique what we are doing in this space.”

How wonderful to know that right here in West Virginia researchers are being asked to help make the transition away from traditional fuel sources sustainable, simpler and less expensive.

The U.S. Department of Energy is a sponsor of the NREL, which, in turn, is part of the Center for Clean Hydrogen partnership. Perhaps word will spread, and more federal agencies will be clamoring to seek financial support for WVU, Marshall University and other research institutions doing amazing work for us, and for everyone.