Startup Joi Scientific is claiming to have perfected a method of extracting hydrogen from water that would revolutionize green energy production, both in the United States and across the world. This new technology, dubbed “Hydrogen 2.0,” supposedly solves all of the problems related to a hydrogen economy. But the company can’t tell anyone what it is, how it works, or what processes they’ve used to leapfrog the laws of physics.
I may or may not have made this face.
Joi’s claims are generating some discussion thanks to a recent Fortune piece, but the company has so far offered zero evidence to back up what it says it’s invented.

The (proposed) hydrogen economy

Before we dive into Joi’s claims, let’s take a moment to consider the larger hydrogen economy. There are potential advantages to relying on hydrogen — it’s incredibly abundant, it results in zero vehicular emissions, and its specific energy is extremely high (a kilogram of hydrogen contains a great deal of energy.) Its energy density by volume (energy density), however, is extremely low — 1L of hydrogen doesn’t contain very much energy at all compared with a liter of gasoline. Hydrogen gas is also explosive, difficult to contain, and can degrade materials it comes in contact with over prolonged periods of time.
There are already a number of heavy-duty trucks that operate using fuel cell technology, and Toyota launched its first fuel-cell car earlier this year. But hydrogen isn’t cheap to produce. It can be produced by reforming natural gas using steam, but this method relies on fossil fuels and isn’t particularly green. The other alternative is electrolysis, which hasn’t proven cost-competitive for a variety of reasons. There are a number of ways of performing electrolysis, and they range in efficiency from 50-80%. Electrolysis is considered to be three to 10 times more expensive than natural gas reformation.
Since replacing gasoline with hydrogen created through the use of natural gas isn’t helpful if your long-term goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the only way to make the hydrogen economy work is if electrolysis can be made cost effective.
Joi claims to have solved these problems, but the warning signs are rampant.

Joi not so Scientific

All of the following discussion is taken from Joi’s videos and “e-book.”
Joi claims to have solved problems related to the “total costs and logistics of [hydrogen] production, storage, and distribution.” Its videos claim that the company has accomplished these breakthroughs by “extracting the know-how of nature as opposed to manipulating nature.”
This new, revolutionary technology is referred to as “Hydrogen 2.0.” Let’s break down what Joi has revealed about this process, step by step.
“Hydrogen 2.0 introduces a low-cost way to store hydrogen in a liquid state at room temperature and without pressure (people call it water) before the hydrogen is extracted.”
Most people refer to this as a “water tank,” or “bucket.”
Patent pending.
“The extraction process frees hydrogen from its oxygen bond without chemicals or electrolysis, and without any greenhouse gas emissions.” (emphasis added).
Thus far, we’ve talked about electrolysis, because electrolysis is the only remotely proven technology that works for splitting water at scale. It’s not the only technology that can perform the task, however. Unfortunately, Joi’s claims here just wiped out most of the chemical alternatives. What about the biological ones?
There are algae that produce hydrogen under specific circumstances, but they’re not space efficient — a 2004 estimate by the DoE found that a refueling station that needed to tank up 100 cars per day would require 110,000 square meters of pond space. That’s a bit larger than your average Texaco.
“Because it’s produced on-demand at the point of use, Hydrogen 2.0 no longer requires a massive, expensive infrastructure for safe storage and distribution.”
The implication here is that Joi hasn’t just solved electrolysis — it also managed to solve all of the attendant problems of the hydrogen economy. This is where things take a turn into utter absurdity. Free hydrogen, once produced (by whatever method), has to be contained within materials that won’t degrade due to continued exposure to hydrogen gas, and that the gas itself can’t permeate and escape. The reason no one builds “on-demand” infrastructure for hydrogen is the same reason cars don’t contain an “on-demand” refinery that turns crude oil into gasoline right inside your tank.
And that’s assuming Joi has come with a hitherto-unknown method of creating hydrogen that requires neither electrolysis nor ‘chemicals,’ yet mimics “nature.”

Extraordinary claims…

Joi’s “e-book” is about water, and shysters have been selling the idea of water as an infinite energy source either as an outright scam (think perpetual motion machines) or a fuel which, under just the right conditions, can be made to yield more energy than it requires to break the bonds between hydrogen and oxygen. Joi ticks most of these boxes and it looks worse the farther down you go.
Before he headed up Joi Scientific, CEO Trever Kennedy, a former Citrix Executive, led Molecular Power Systems. While there are no patents listed for Joi, /r/scams turned up multiple applications under Molecular Power Systems’ name, filed by members of Joi’s current leadership team. The patent applicants are linked by a maze of shell companies and dummy companies all pointing to the same address. While Joi Scientific does at least have an its own independent address, there are no patent applications, research papers, or documented evidence of what it claims it’s done.
They’re not exactly thinking small.
When a company claims to have made a fundamental breakthrough that eliminates the need for electrolysis, chemicals, on-site storage, transportation infrastructure, and all of the safety requirements of the above, it needs to present evidence to support its promises. Joi Scientific’s presentations are anything but.