Annual Hydrogen Production Research Articles

Economic analysis of a proton exchange membrane electrolyser cell for hydrogen supply scenarios in Japan

Hydrogen production using variable renewable energy surplus electricity that called Power-to-Gas is attracting attention as a grid stabilization technology. However, there is an issue that Power-to-Gas is low economically viable to use only for stabilizing of variable renewable energy output. The objective of this article is to evaluate the economic efficiency of the Power-to-Gas system based on the optimal operation strategies by using electricity from both an on-site photovoltaic system and an electric power exchange market, assuming a specific situation in Japan in the near future. The Power-to-Gas plant considered in this article consists of a 1 MW proton exchange membrane electrolyser cell, which has already started demonstration tests, a hydrogen storage tank, and a 3 MW photovoltaic system. An operational planning problem of the plant to optimize the annual hydrogen production schedule is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem, and the economic efficiency is evaluated using the optimized unit price of hydrogen production as an evaluation index. The result shows that the hydrogen unit price is improved by using the power exchange market in addition to on-site photovoltaic due to the improvement of the utilization rate of cell. Case 1 with no constraints of hydrogen storage which has a large impact on hydrogen unit price marks 46.8 JPY/NM3 of the best hydrogen unit price, and Case 2-1, in which a fixed amount of hydrogen is produced continuously and transported by gas piping, improves 5.8 JPY/Nm3 of the hydrogen unit price compared to Case 2-2, in which batch transportation by a loader. From the sensitivity analysis of varying the depreciation cost of electrolyser cell and the price of the power market, it was concluded that the target unit cost of hydrogen production of less than 30 JPY/Nm3 can be obtained by decreasing the depreciation cost of the cell by 50% and the price of the market by 30%.

Techno-economic assessment of clean hydrogen production and storage using hybrid renewable energy system of PV/Wind under different climatic conditions

Techno-economic assessment is presented of using hybrid renewable energy system of wind turbine and photovoltaic (PV) panels for hydrogen production and storage at different climate conditions of five different Egyptian cities. The water electrolyzer and compressor for hydrogen production and storage are driven by electricity produced from real PV panels and wind turbines. A transient mathematical model of the overall system is presented and solved using MATLAB/Simulink. The system performance is examined in terms of energy storage, system efficiency, and cost. Results reveal that the annual produced electricity equals 84,096, 107,285, 104,761, 69,836.5, and 118,115 kWh for Cairo, Aswan, Asyout, El Arish, and Mersa Matruh, respectively. PV panels and wind turbines are suitable for hydrogen production for the studied cities, except El Arish where the wind turbine is not recommended. In addition, the compressor consumes about 3.13% to 3.3% of the produced electricity from the PV/wind system. The annual hydrogen production reaches 1,972 kg for Mersa Matruh, 1,795 kg for Aswan, 1,749 kg for Asyout, 1,418 kg for Cairo, and 1,196 kg for El Arish. Finally, the overall system efficiency and production cost range from 7.69% to 9.37% and from 4.54 $/kg to 7.48 $/kg, respectively.

Proposal of a novel modular photo-thermo-reactor system for cascaded hydrogen production from methanol steam reforming

In the present work, a novel modular photo-thermo-reactor (MPTR) for high-efficient and low-cost hydrogen production from methanol steam reforming (MSR), benefitting from synergistic photo-thermo-catalysis (PTC) with Pt/CuO catalyst and thermo-catalysis (TC) with Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst in a cascade way using composite catalyst beds, is proposed. The theory–experiment-based multiphysics model covering the optical, flow, thermal and chemical sub-processes is established in order to optimally design the MPTR. The predicted design-point performance of MPTR indicates that the PTC reaction breaks the limitation of normal TC reaction, which leads to the currently highest overall solar-to-hydrogen efficiency up to 24.1%, with the corresponding annual hydrogen production of 1211 Nm3/m2 in Xi’an, China. Moreover, a location-sensitive economic analysis model is built, considering not only the conventional factors, such as investment, stock and M&O costs, but also the location related factors, such as the solar resources and transportation cost. The results demonstrate that the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) could be reduced as low as 3.82 $/kg if the location of the proposed MPTR system is appropriately chosen.

Hydrogen farm concept: A Perspective for Turkey

Hydrogen farm concept: A Perspective for Turkey

Performance of Integrated Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cell-Based Water-Splitting Devices under Varying Illumination Angles and an Estimation of Their Annual Hydrogen Production

We have investigated the influence of simulated outdoor illumination conditions on the functionality of photovoltaic-biased electrosynthetic (PV–EC) systems used for the production of hydrogen as a...

Hydrogen Production from Two Commercial Dish/Stirling Systems Compared to the Photovoltaic System-Case Study: Eastern Morocco

In the present work, a comparative analysis of electricity and hydrogen production using concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) is carried out. For this purpose, an identical capacity is taken equal to 25 and 10 kWe for both CSP and PV systems have been considered. One-year of metrological data was taken via a high precision weather station consisting of a Kipp and Zonen (K&Z) SOLYS 2 installed in Oujda. The System Advisor Model (SAM) software, version 2018 from NREL laboratory is used for electricity production, and then the hydrogen production has been calculated. The results show that both commercial dish/stirling systems produce more electricity than PV with an annual production of 42.9 MW h instead of 38.4 MW h for PV system with a capacity 25 kWe. Furthermore, the annual hydrogen production from the SES system is 13.6% higher than the PV. Considering the capacity equal to 10 kWe, the WGA dish/stirling system gives an annual electricity production equal to 15.89 MW h instead of 14.07 MW h for the PV system. The annual hydrogen production is around 302.2 kg, while about 267.8 kg is for PV system (10 kWe).

A novel hybrid energy system for hydrogen production and storage in a depleted oil reservoir

Renewable and carbon free energy relates to the sustainable development of human beings while hydrogen production by renewables and hydrogen underground storage ensure the stable and economic renewable energy supply. A hybrid energy system combining hydrogen production by offshore wind power with hydrogen storage in depleted oil reservoirs was constructed along with a mathematical model where the Weibull distribution, Wind turbine power function, Faraday's law, continuity equation, Darcy's law, state equation of real gas, Net Present Value (NPV) and the concept of leveling were adopted to clarify the system characteristics. For the case of a depleted oil field in the Bohai Bay, China, the annual hydrogen production, annual levelized cost of hydrogen and payback period are 2.62 × 106 m³, CNY 34.6/kgH2 and 7 years, respectively. Sensitivity analysis found that the wind speed impacted significantly on system NPV and LCOH, followed by hydrogen price and stratum pressure.

Thermodynamic analysis of a solar-driven high-temperature steam electrolyzer for clean hydrogen production

Increasing world population and consequent increase in fossil fuels consumption emerge the necessity of looking for new sources of energy; resources that are clean, cheap, and renewable. Hydrogen is known as a clean and renewable fuel in various approaches; so, finding clean ways of hydrogen production can be considered as an appropriate solution for climate changes and global warming. In this study, a conceptual design of solar-driven high-temperature steam electrolyzer system is presented, and its performance is investigated thermodynamically using a real-time simulator in-house code. Evaluation of the effects of inlet parameters on the system performance is performed and the system real-time performance is calculated on design day at two different sites. Results show that the proposed system is able to separate 98% of existed hydrogen in the feed water and produce pure hydrogen with the rate of 1.2 g/s with overall energy and exergy efficiencies of 21.5% and 22.5% respectively. In addition, the main exergy destructor item is reported as the solar collector with 36.4% exergy degradation of inlet exergy. Based on the results, it was deduced that the most effective parameters on heat absorption are direct normal irradiance and incidence angle while relative humidity has no major effect. Furthermore, the designed system produced 52.43kg and 26.45kg hydrogen on the design day at Sterling and Babol Noshirvani University of Technology sites. The mean annual hydrogen production for these sites were estimated 4.98 and 3.93 tons, respectively.

Potential and economic viability of green hydrogen production by water electrolysis using wind energy resources in South Africa

In recent times, more attention is given to renewable and clean energy sources that could ameliorate the current shortage of electricity plaguing South Africa. Due to the comparable use of hydrogen to fossil fuel in the transportation, industrial and electricity sector, hydrogen could be a potential solution to the current energy crises especially when produced from a clean and sustainable source. One of the most appropriate methods of green hydrogen production is the use of wind energy via water electrolysis. This paper therefore investigates the capability and viability of hydrogen production from the wind energy resources of South Africa using the actual wind speed obtained at 60 m anemometer height. Sensitivity analyses are also conducted to gain insight into the possible influences of wind turbine operating parameters on the cost of hydrogen production. Wind regime of fifteen (15) different sites across five (5) major provinces are analysed for possible wind-hydrogen production using eleven (11) different off-the-shelf wind turbines ranging from small to large categories. Some of the key results revealed that the mean wind speed (Vm) varies from 5.07 m/s in Eston (S12) to 8.10 m/s in Napier (S5). Wind turbine WT9 (ServionSE MM100) with rated wind power of 2 MW, cut-in wind speed of 2 m/s, rated wind speed of 11 m/s, cut-out wind speed of 22 m/s and turbine hub-height of 100 m has the highest capacity factor (Cf) across all the sites with the values that range from 24.04% in Eston (S12) to 54.55% in Napier. Site S5 presents the best hydrogen production potential with annual hydrogen production that ranges between 6.51 metric-tons with turbine WT1 and 226.82 metric-tons of hydrogen with turbine WT11. Wind turbine WT9 has the least cost of electricity generation ranging from 0.23$/kwh at site S5 to 0.42 $/kwh at site S13. Also, the cost of hydrogen is lowest at site S5 and ranges between 39.55 $/kg using wind turbine WT1 and 1.4 $/kg using wind turbine WT11. The sensitivity analysis conducted revealed that rated wind speed has significant effect on the cost of hydrogen production compared to other wind turbine parameters.

Feasibility of using wind turbines for renewable hydrogen production in Firuzkuh, Iran

The present study was conducted with the objective of evaluating several proposed turbines from 25 kW to 1.65 MW in order to select the appropriate turbine for electricity and hydrogen production in Firuzkuh area using the decision making trial and evaluation (DEMATEL) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. Initially, five important factors in selection of the best wind turbine for wind farm construction were determined using the DEMATEL technique. Then, technical-economic feasibility was performed for each of the eight proposed turbines using the HOMER software, and the performance score for each proposed wind turbine was obtained. The results show that the GE 1.5sl model wind turbine is suitable for wind farm construction. The turbine can generate 5515.325 MW of electricity annually, which is equivalent to $ 1103065. The average annual hydrogen production would be 1014 kg for Firuzkuh by using the GE 1.5sl model turbine.

Evaluation of hydrogen production from harvesting wind energy at high altitudes in Iran by three extrapolating Weibull methods

One of the most appropriate ways for energy storage is producing hydrogen from renewable resources. Wind energy is recognized as one of the widely used renewable energy resources. This paper investigates the use of wind energy for producing hydrogen in Iran. To achieve this, the country is divided into five major regions: center, north, south, east and west. The performance of three large-scale commercial wind turbines, ranging from 1500 kW to 3000 kW at hub height of 80 m and four large-scale wind turbine ranging from 2000 kW to 4500 kW at hub height of 120 m are evaluated for producing hydrogen in 150 wind stations in Iran. All wind data were recorded based on 10-min time intervals for more than one year at different wind mast heights. For estimating Weibull parameters, the Standard Deviation Method (SDM), Empirical Method of Lysen (EML) and Power Density Method (PDM) are used. An extrapolation method is used to determine the shape and the scale parameters of the Weibull distribution at the high attitudes of 80 m and 120 m. Then, power law and surface roughness exponents, capacity factor, annual energy production and annual hydrogen production for the wind sites are determined. The results indicate that rated power is not the only determinative parameter and the highest hydrogen production is from the GW-109/2500 wind turbine at the hub height of 80 m and from E112/4500 at the hub height of 120 m. For better assessment, the amount of hydrogen production is depicted in Geographic Information Science (GIS) maps using power production of the seven wind turbine models. Next by analyzing these GIS maps, it is found that there are significant potentials in north, north-west, east and south of Iran for producing hydrogen from wind energy.

Performance analyses of Cu–Cl hydrogen production integrated solar parabolic trough collector system under Algerian climate

The potential of hydrogen production by thermochemical cycle in Algeria using solar radiation as heat sources is estimated under the climate conditions of the country. The study analyzes an integrated copper–chlorine (Cu–Cl) thermochemical cycle with solar parabolic trough system for hydrogen production. In order to determine the most promising solar sites available for deploying the integrated system, the direct normal solar irradiance (DNI) for horizontal tracking system oriented in North-South has been estimated and compared for different locations. Heat gain from parabolic trough collector model is evaluated under Algerian conditions. To describe the different steps of the Cu–Cl cycle for hydrogen production, we perform a thermodynamic analysis accounting for relevant chemical reactions and including the determination of the energy necessary to the cycle. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effect of heat gain from the parabolic trough collector (PTC) on the hydrogen production rate. Furthermore, the rate production of hydrogen by the Cu–Cl cycle is analyzed and compared for performance improvement of the system for different climatic regions in Algeria. Simulation results reveal great opportunities of hydrogen production using Cu–Cl cycle combined with solar PTC in the south of Algeria with annual hydrogen production exceeds 84 Tons H2/year (around 0,30 kg/m2/day).

Technological assessment of residential fuel cells using hydrogen supply systems for fuel cell vehicles

Widespread of the fuel cell vehicles (FCV) is one of the essential solutions to CO2 emission mitigation. However there were only 81 working hydrogen stations distributed in Japan in January 2017. Therefore, it has become increasingly necessary to establish the hydrogen stations. In this study, we focus on the unutilized hydrogen production capacity of a fuel processor system (FPS) incorporated in a residential fuel cell cogeneration system. We proposed a system which the FPS and fuel cell stacks are operated independently at their respective efficient load factors, and which can produce hydrogen for the FCV using the unutilized capabilities of the FPS. An optimum scheduling model for the operation of the FPS and the fuel cell stacks was developed to evaluate annual hydrogen production for the FCV for 24 households. As the results, it was found that all households have the capacity to produce at least 1,040 Nm3/year of hydrogen, which a FCV can run 8,000 km in a year. Furthermore, we evaluated the primary energy reduction potential were in relation to the different power and hot water demands. As the results, it was found that the primary energy reduction effect slightly increases with increasing hydrogen supply up to about 8,000 km worth of FCV hydrogen.

The Importance of Renewable Hydrogen in Decarbonization

Hydrogen is an important industrial gas, representing a 10 million metric tons/year industry worth $100 billion. Currently over 95% of that hydrogen is made from fossil fuels: natural gas reforming or coal gasification. Close to 50% of the world’s annual hydrogen production is used for ammonia generation and oil refining, with the hydrogen generation being the highest energy and highest emission subcomponent of ammonia generation. In addition, 2% of U.S. energy currently goes through hydrogen as an intermediate, a number that will increase substantially when hydrogen fueled vehicles become widespread. In order to meet the Climate Action Plan goals of 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, net zero carbon pathways for hydrogen production are therefore critical. There are several pathways to generating hydrogen from renewable sources, but one of the most advanced is membrane-based water electrolysis powered by solar, wind, or hydropower. While electrolysis has been demonstrated at megawatt scale, there is still significant promise for further improvement. Several countries are already committed to advancing this technology, and are working on the critical materials issues that drive cost and efficiency. Longer term technologies such as photoelectrochemical water splitting or thermochemical routes may provide lower cost pathways in the end, but need to build from technologies that have already been developed at relevant scale. The "perfect" technology to address the energy challenge will always be 20 years away. As new concepts moves from basic principles to bench scale experiments and beyond, the pitfalls become clearer. At the same time, dismissing existing commercial technologies on the basis of limitations which might become relevant at multi-gigawatt or terawatt scale prevents us from maximizing early impact on sustainability. This poster will focus on the need to leverage existing clean energy technologies in the near term to serve the megawatt and gigawatt scale, as building blocks and bridges to future technologies.

Long term hydrogen production potential of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system in tropical weather of Singapore

Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system provides highest solar energy conversion efficiency among all the photovoltaic technologies and provides the most suitable option to convert solar energy into hydrogen, as future sustainable energy carrier. So far, only conventional flat plate PV systems are being used for almost all of the commercial applications. However, most of the studies have only shown the maximum efficiency of hydrogen production using CPV. In actual field conditions, the performance of CPV-Hydrogen system is affected by many parameter and it changes continuously during whole day operation. In this paper, the daily average and long term performances are proposed to analyze the real field potential of the CPV-Hydrogen system, which is of main interest for designers and consumers. An experimental setup is developed and a performance model is proposed to investigate the average and long term production potential of CPV-Hydrogen system. The study is carried out in tropical weather of Singapore. The maximum CPV efficiency of 27–28% and solar to hydrogen (STH) efficiency of 18%, were recorded. In addition, the CPV-Hydrogen system showed the long term average efficiency of 15.5%, for period of one year (12-months), with electrolyser rating of 47 kWh/kg and STH production potential of 218 kWh/kg. Based upon the DNI availability, the system showed hydrogen production potential of 0.153–0.553 kg/m2/month, with average production of 0.43 kg/m2/month. However, CPV-Hydrogen system has shown annual hydrogen production potential of 5.162 kg/m2/year in tropical weather of Singapore.

Optimization of Photovoltaic Electrolyzer Hybrid systems; taking into account the effect of climate conditions

Solar energy will make a valuable contribution for power generation in the future. However the intermittency of solar energy has become an important issue in the utilization of PV system, especially small scale distributed solar energy conversion systems. The issue can be addressed through the management of production and storage of the energy in the form of hydrogen. The hydrogen can be produced by solar photovoltaic (PV) powered electrolysis of water. The amount of transferred energy to an electrolyzer from a PV module is a function of the distance between maximum power points (MPP) of PV module and the electrolyzer operating points. The distance can be minimized by optimizing the number of series and parallel units of the electrolyzer. However the maximum power points are subject to PV module characteristics, solar irradiation and ambient temperature. This means the climate condition can substantially influence the MPP and therefore the optimal size of the PV–Electrolyzer (PV/EL) system. On the other hand, system size can affect the levelized cost of hydrogen production as well.In this paper, the impact of climate conditions on the optimal size and operating conditions of a direct coupled photovoltaic–electrolyzer system has been studied. For this purpose, the optimal size of electrolyzer for six cities which have different climate condition is obtained by considering two solution scenarios, regarding two objectives which are annual energy transfer loss and levelized costs of hydrogen production and then the optimal results for these cities are compared. The results show that the climate condition can strongly affect the size of the electrolyzer, the annual hydrogen production and consequently, both the levelized costs of hydrogen production and annual energy transfer loss. Moreover, it is found out that the solar to hydrogen efficiency of the optimal systems regarding these cities are different based on the solution scenarios, the characteristics of PV output power and the configuration of optimal electrolyzer configuration and placement.

Hydrogen production with sea water electrolysis using Norwegian offshore wind energy potentials

This study looks into possibilities of hydrogen production on an offshore platform in Norway, to capitalize Norway’s offshore wind potential matching political goals to reduce emissions and make Norway’s transportation sector cleaner. The potential power output of a hypothetical offshore wind farm has been assessed using real operating data of other wind farms. The usable electricity was between and segmented into three scenarios. Solid oxide electrolysis cell and proton exchange membrane electrolysis are compared. Their function and the necessary technologies to operate them are described in detail. Based on these scenarios the annual hydrogen production was calculated with values between 1530 and 8020 tons per year. The second part of the study estimates the investment to find the production cost per kilogram hydrogen, which was compared to recent fuel prices in Norway to see whether the production of hydrogen was profitable. Prices vary between 5.20 € and 106.10 € per kg hydrogen.

Hydrogen production probability distributions for a PV-electrolyser system

In this study, we comprehensively analyze the probability distribution of the hydrogen production for PV assisted PEM electrolyser system. A case study is conducted using the experimental data taken from a recently installed system in Balikesir University, Turkey. A novel computational tool is developed in Matlab-Simulink for analyzing the data. The concept of probability density frequency is successfully applied in the analyses of the wind speed and the solar energy in literature. This study presents a method of applying this knowledge to solar energy assisted hydrogen production. The change in the probability distribution of the hydrogen production with the solar irradiation throughout a year is studied and illustrated. It is found that the maximum amount of hydrogen production occurs at between 600 and 650 W/m 2 of solar radiation. Annual hydrogen production is determined as 2.97 kg for per m 2 of PV system. Average hydrogen production efficiency of the studied PEM electrolyser is found to be 60.5% with 0.48 A/cm 2 of current density. The presented results of this study are expected to be valuable for the researchers working on renewable hydrogen production systems.

Influence of wind turbine power curve and electrolyzer operating temperature on hydrogen production in wind–hydrogen systems

Current simulation tools used to analyze, design and size wind–hydrogen hybrid systems, have several common characteristics: all use manufacturer wind turbine power curve (obtained from UNE 61400-12) and always consider electrolyzer operating in nominal conditions (not taking into account the influence of thermal inertia and operating temperature in hydrogen production). This article analyzes the influence of these parameters. To do this, a mathematical wind turbine model, that represents the manufacturer power curve to the real behaviour of the equipment in a location, and a dynamic electrolyzer model are developed and validated. Additionally, hydrogen production in a wind–hydrogen system operating in “wind-balance” mode (adjusting electricity production and demand at every time step) is analyzed. Considering the input data used, it is demonstrated that current simulation tools present significant errors in calculations. When using the manufacturer wind turbine power curve: the electric energy produced by the wind turbine, and the annual hydrogen production in a wind–hydrogen system are overestimated by 25% and 33.6%, respectively, when they are compared with simulation results using mathematical models that better represent the real behaviour of the equipments. Besides, considering electrolyzer operating temperature constant and equal to nominal, hydrogen production is overestimated by 3%, when compared with the hydrogen production using a dynamic electrolyzer model.

The critical conversion efficiency of light energy to hydrogen from photocatalytic water decomposition

The hydrogen production from photocatalytic water decomposition is one of the best approaches that convert solar energy to hydrogen energy. At present, the hydrogen production from photocatalytic water decomposition has a low efficiency. In order to determine a valuable hydrogen production process from photocatalytic water decomposition in the aspect of energy conversion, the concept of critical conversion efficiency of light energy is proposed in this paper. Critical conversion efficiency of light energy is defined as the conversion efficiency of light energy when the hydrogen energy output is equal to an equivalent energy input of the system. The criterion introduced is that only if the conversion efficiency of light energy is greater than the critical one, an energy profit can be achieved in a system. A hypothetical system with 20,000 tons annual hydrogen production by using Na2S/Na2SO3 as the sacrificial reagent is analyzed and calculated in this paper to determine the critical conversion efficiency of light energy by means of energy balance, cumulative exergy balance, and emergy balance, respectively. The results show that the critical conversion efficiency of light energy determined by emergy balance is the most reasonable, which gives the figure around 15%.