Researchers at the Institute for Future Fuels of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) use sulphur dioxide instead of water as a starting material for electrolysis in the HySelect project. For the Sulphur Dioxide Depolarised Electrolysis (SDE), the institute received the hy-fcell Award in the Research & Development category. The project also includes generating sulphur dioxide using highly concentrated sunlight at high temperatures.
By using sulphur dioxide instead of water, the energy consumption in electrolysis can be significantly reduced. In the interview, Dr. Dimitrios Dimitrakis explains how the process works, where else the sulphur dioxide could come from, and for which applications the technology is particularly interesting. At the same time, he talks about the hy-fcell Award 2025, which the DLR team received for this development.
