Hydrogen from renewable resources research

Abstract

In 1986 the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) and the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) were contracted by the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) to conduct an assessment of hydrogen production technologies and economic feasibilities of the production and use of hydrogen from renewable resources. In the 1989/90 period all monies were directed toward research and development with an emphasis on integration of tasks, focusing on two important issues, production and storage. The current year's efforts consisted of four tasks, one task containing three subtasks: Hydrogen Production by Gasification of Glucose and Wet Biomass in Supercritical Water; Photoelectrochemical Production of Hydrogen; Photoemission and Photoluminescence Studies of Catalyzed Photoelectrode Surfaces for Hydrogen Production; Solar Energy Chemical Conversion by Means of Photoelectrochemical (PEC) Methods Using Coated Silicon Electrodes; Assessment of Impedance Spectroscopy Methods for Evaluation of Semiconductor-Electrolyte Interfaces; Solar Energy Conversion with Cyanobacteria; Nonclassical Polyhydride Metal Complexes as Hydrogen Storage Materials. 61 refs., 22 figs., 11 tabs.