A Hydrogen Hypothesis

The Joint Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry Committee, South Australia welcomes you to this hybrid event on Hydrogen.

Circa 460 BC a Thracian boy named Democritus became a celebrated pre-socratic philosopher. Chief amongst his contributions is the development of the earliest recorded atomic theory. 

The theory held that everything is composed of "atoms," a term he is credited for inventing.
He believed these atoms were:

Indivisible
Separated by empty space
Indestructible
Always in motion
Infinite in number, type, shape and size. 

These would have been challenging concepts for his contemporaries to absorb, the ideas were thousands of years ahead of their time. Democritus was disliked by many later philosophers because his theories seemed so absurd. Ideas and beliefs can be dangerous and divisive.

Fast forward 2,500 years, and science has been dividing what Democritus thought to be indivisible.  As science advances, more opportunities emerge for people to solve big problems. In Australia we are seeing the birth of the renewable hydrogen industry. The recent HyP SA demonstration plant exploits the smallest atom known in our universe to store and transport energy. This presentation will explore learnings from the design, construction and commissioning of the HyP SA demonstration plant. In honour of Democritus, it will also present a dangerous idea or two that may challenge those who are game to listen.

By sharing these learnings it is hoped that the renewable hydrogen industry will continue to emerge to provide a safe and sustainable future for all. 

Meet your speaker
Huw Dent

Huw has spent a portion of his conscious existence studying the vocation of mechanical engineering. His professional passions span the fields of corrosion, steam, turbines and the emerging circular economy. After graduating from the University of Adelaide, Huw completed a graduate program with Origin Energy in the power generation business and then moved to GPA Engineering. Other than winning the lottery of life, he has a number of accomplishments that are noteworthy including being a past president of the Australasian Corrosion Association and qualifying as a certified inspector of pressure equipment.

As a practicing engineer he now participates in a broad range of industries and projects as a consultant. On good days he leads a small team of fun-loving and fancy-free mechanical engineers that serve the community, as opportunities to do so present themselves. Much of the time, they are self-motivated and need no leader but they are kind enough to endure him all the same. So far nothing Huw has worked on has blown up.

More recently, Huw has been responsible for the mechanical design and on-site commissioning of a demonstration hydrogen production facility, HyP SA, in Tonsley, South Australia. This is an award winning project that is considered to be the first renewable hydrogen plant in Australia.