Techno-Economic Analysis of Green Hydrogen Production from Solar Energy in Mena and Transport to Central Europe

This techno-economic study investigates a Power-to-Hydrogen (PtH2) and Power-to-Methane (PtCH4) process chain producing 120 TWh (higher heating value, HHV) hydrogen or methane per year. The aim is to estimate the efficiency as well as the production cost of green hydrogen and methane from solar energy in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region followed by transport to central Europe. The examined PtH2 process chain includes a photovoltaic (PV) system, desalination system, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolysis (PEM), H2-storage, and pipeline transport. The PtCH4–process chain contains an additional unit to capture CO2 from air (direct air capture, DAC) and a methanation unit. Two key aspects are evaluated in this study. The first is the evaluation of optimal capacities of the electrolysis plant with respect to PV capacities and second, the challenge of storing large amounts of hydrogen due to volatile hydrogen production. Results suggest that the cost of hydrogen production in the MENA region and its transport to Central Europe are 12 €-cent/kWh in 2021 and 6 €-cent/kWh in 2050, whereas the purchase costs of methane are 19 €-cent/kWh and 9 €-cent/kWh respectively

Skin Fragility and Impaired Desmosomal Adhesion in Mice Lacking All Keratins

Keratins perform major structural and regulatory functions in epithelia. Owing to redundancy, their respective contribution to epidermal integrity, adhesion, and cell junction formation has not been addressed in full. Unexpectedly, the constitutive deletion of type II keratins in mice was embryonic lethal ∼E9.5 without extensive tissue damage. This prompted us to analyze keratin functions in skin where keratins are best characterized. Here, we compare the mosaic and complete deletion of all type II keratins in mouse skin, with distinct consequences on epidermal integrity, adhesion, and organismal survival. Mosaic knockout (KO) mice survived ∼12 days while global KO mice died perinatally because of extensive epidermal damage. Coinciding with absence of keratins, epidermal fragility, inflammation, increased epidermal thickness, and increased proliferation were noted in both strains of mice, accompanied by significantly smaller desmosomes. Decreased desmosome size was due to accumulation of desmosomal proteins in the cytoplasm, causing intercellular adhesion defects resulting in intercellular splits. Mixing different ratios of wild-type and KO keratinocytes revealed that ∼60% of keratin-expressing cells were sufficient to maintain epithelial sheets under stress. Our data reveal a major contribution of keratins to the maintenance of desmosomal adhesion and epidermal integrity with relevance for the treatment of epidermolysis bullosa simplex and other keratinopathies