A four-year EU-funded research initiative is working to upend how one of the world’s most widely used industrial chemicals is made, replacing a century-old, energy-hungry process with an electrochemical route powered by renewable electricity. Power2Hype, officially launched in 2023, brings together 13 partners from across Europe to develop a more sustainable and decentralised production method for hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), targeting on-demand manufacturing that could reshape supply chains across multiple sectors.
A chemical the world depends on
Hydrogen peroxide is a workhorse chemical, used in industrial synthesis, disinfection, water treatment, and bleaching. Yet the way it is produced has changed little in decades. Today, global output relies almost exclusively on the Anthraquinone Oxidation (AO) process, an energy-intensive method that is highly centralised, requires hazardous organic solvents, and demands the long-distance transport of concentrated H₂O₂ to where it is actually needed.
The scale of this dependence is considerable. Industry figures put global annual production at roughly 5.5 million tonnes, with the overwhelming majority manufactured through the anthraquinone route. That centralisation creates a cascade of environmental, safety, and cost challenges, limiting the flexible, on-site use of a chemical that, despite its reputation as a hazardous material, is considered environmentally benign in use — it breaks down into only water and oxygen.
Producing peroxide on demand
The Power2Hype project responds to these challenges by developing an electrochemical process capable of producing H₂O₂ on demand using only water, oxygen from air, and renewable electricity. By generating the chemical at the point of use, the approach eliminates the need for complex logistics and substantially reduces the environmental footprint of the production chain. For end users such as hospitals, water treatment facilities, and pulp and paper mills, decentralised production also offers insulation from supply bottlenecks and delivery constraints.
Coordinated by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, the project builds on earlier electrochemical research carried out under the predecessor CO2EXIDE initiative. It is funded through the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and aligns with broader policy ambitions, including the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU drive for more secure and sustainable energy.
The science behind the cell
At the core of Power2Hype is a paired electrolysis strategy, in which both electrodes in a single electrochemical cell generate hydrogen peroxide through the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the anodic water oxidation reaction (WOR). This dual-production mechanism enables higher efficiency and lower energy consumption than conventional electrochemical systems, which typically produce the chemical at only one electrode.
The system integrates several technical innovations working in concert. These include advanced metal-free carbon-based catalysts for selective ORR, boron-doped diamond (BDD) anodes that suppress competing side reactions, specialised gas diffusion layers (GDLs), and a dual-membrane configuration that actively transports produced H₂O₂ away from the reaction site to prevent it from decomposing before it can be collected.
From lab cell to pilot scale
A persistent hurdle for electrochemical peroxide production has been achieving the concentrations that industry actually requires. To address this, Power2Hype is integrating a downstream processing (DSP) unit to concentrate the hydrogen peroxide produced in the electrochemical cell. This step is essential to ensure product competitiveness and to demonstrate a viable route toward industrially relevant concentrations. In parallel, the consortium is developing continuous-flow cells and multi-cell stacks, laying the groundwork for a future pilot-scale demonstrator.
The ambition is significant: the project aims to demonstrate electrolytic hydrogen peroxide production at concentrations ranging from 20 to 99 percent, opening the door to applications spanning everyday sanitation through to specialist niche markets.
A clean and viable route
The consortium frames the work as both an environmental and an economic proposition. “The project aims to establish a clean and economically viable electrochemical process, enabling safe and decentralised hydrogen peroxide production,” says Luciana Vieira, Power2Hype’s Coordinator and Senior Scientist at Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB.
She points to the breadth of sectors that stand to benefit. “Hydrogen peroxide is widely used across sectors such as water treatment, pulp and paper, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and environmental remediation. By enabling decentralised production, Power2Hype contributes to safer supply chains, reduced emissions, and increased industrial autonomy in line with European sustainability objectives,” she adds.
What to watch
For sustainability professionals, the project sits at an interesting intersection of trends: the electrification of chemical manufacturing, the push toward decentralised and resilient supply chains, and the wider effort to decarbonise heavy industry. Hydrogen peroxide may be a single chemical, but the paired-electrolysis approach being demonstrated here reflects a broader bet that renewable electricity can replace fossil-derived energy and hazardous solvents across the chemicals sector.
The bringing together of universities, research institutes, industrial partners, and SMEs from across Europe signals that the technology is being developed with commercialisation in mind rather than as a purely academic exercise. The real test will come as the consortium moves from laboratory cells toward its planned pilot-scale demonstrator, and whether the process can hit both the concentrations and the cost targets needed to compete with an entrenched incumbent process. If it succeeds, the implications extend well beyond one chemical — offering a template for how electrified, on-site manufacturing might reshape industrial supply chains across Europe and beyond.
