The Hydrogen Economy, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Production Methods

The use of hydrogen technologies is not a utopian concept. Its adoption has already started and with it, the fourth industrial revolution.

 

The report explains the role of hydrogen in the so-called hydrogen economy, emphasising the advantages of its adoption, and showing the current limitations which are hindering its evolution. Then, several solutions to facilitate hydrogen economies' adoption are explained.

 

Beginning with the definition of the hydrogen economy, the importance of hydrogen as an energy carrier will be explained, highlighting its use in multiple sectors, not simply as energy storage material. The importance of hydrogen as an energy vector is driven by the possibility of adopting it in a large variety of sectors, hence coupling different sectors together, while allowing their decarbonization, due to its employment, without the emission of green-house gas (GHG).

 

Besides its consumption, hydrogen can also be produced from several different sources, both renewable and not.

From this general picture it's possible to understand the two main reasons why hydrogen will be used as energy vector:

1. It allows a country to be, to some extent, independent from large energy imports

2. While reducing the GHG emissions

 

 

Because of these reasons, several governments have already started to work on the implementation of a hydrogen economy.

 

Besides the advantages of an integrated hydrogen economy, several barriers must be overcome first. Hydrogen reduction cost is without doubts the most pressing task. Moreover, infrastructures need to be adapted to hydrogen distribution, while policy and regulations must be implemented to ease the integration of hydrogen in current economies. From the technical side, hydrogen technologies like fuel cells and electrolysers, have to be improved to reduce the cost and ease their adoption by the market.

 

Reaching a complete hydrogen economy will be a long process, but it has already started.

 

The concept of hydrogen economy in fact is not new. It was mentioned for the first time around the 1970s, but the large adoption of oil, its low cost, and the high cost of fuel cell technologies made it impossible for these technologies to be adopted. When the problem of global pollution started to be more pressing over the 1990s, and a constant shift toward renewable energies began, an increased interest toward hydrogen technologies has been observed. The first country to seriously consider the hydrogen economy was Japan in 2003. In the next two decades several countries followed the Japanese example, increasing the amount of funding to develop the hydrogen technologies.

 

To date, the major countries developing hydrogen technologies are investing on average $100m per year.

 

Besides the hydrogen cost reduction, improvement of fuel cell and electrolysers is another pivotal target toward the adoption of hydrogen technologies.

 

The fuel cells are the electrochemical devices which allow the conversion of hydrogen and oxygen in water and electricity. This clean technology is one of the key reasons for the adoption of hydrogen as the future energy carrier.

 

Currently, the most adopted fuel cell is the low temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Besides the PEMFC other fuel cells have been invented, such as the alkaline fuel cell (AFC), where an alkaline electrolyte is employed. The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is generally considered the holy grail of the fuel cells. The possibility of directly converting a high energy density liquid (methanol) in electricity made this technology very attractive. Other fuel cells, like phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC), molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC), and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), are classified as high temperature fuel cells, because of their high working temperature. The reason for the high temperature FC is because of their higher efficiencies. The high temperature-FCs are meant to be used as a combined heat-and-power (CHP) devices, because only in this way much higher efficiencies (60% - 80%) can be reached.

 

The report provides an in-depth analysis of each FC mentioned, including the high temperature PEMFC, specifying for each technologies the materials adopted, limitations, and possible applications. Moreover, the main companies involved in the commercialization of fuel cells are provided.

 

Besides the fuel cells which convert hydrogen in electricity and water, the electrolysers performed the opposite reaction, converting water in hydrogen. Fuel cells and electrolysers, are very similar in structure and material involved, but with some differences in active components. The electrolysers currently manufactured are the proton exchange membrane electrolysers (PEMEL), the alkaline electrolysers (AEL), and still under development the solid oxide electrolysers (SOEL).

 

The report will provide a complete analysis of AEL and PEMEL, specifying the different materials involved, and highlighting advantages and disadvantages of each technology.

 

For the different fuel cells and electrolysers, the major companies involved in their commercialization are mentioned, giving to the reader an overview of the major companies involved in the different markets.

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