What are the options for:
Water into hydrogen, oxygen, or low carbon fuel?
At what cost, materials, infrastructure, etc?
There is no simple answer for your question. It's discussed on numerous high profile scientific meetings. Thousands papers are published in this area. As a young researcher you must find your own answer and have your own opinion.
hydrogen production via water electrolysis using solar energy is todays only commercial technique of hydrogen production without CO2 emission. and its advantage over other techniques lies in cheapness and simplicity with great applications range. the costs depend of course on material which you use for electrodes in electrolyser, etc. so, thats the one of the solutions :)
Yes, solar energy can be used to generate hydrogen, but is it good from economic view point. Namely, assume that solar cell efficiency 10% , the generated hydrogen will be used to power car or electricity plant, assume the car or plant has efficiency of 45%, this mean that the total efficiency of the whole process is 4.5%. Imagine the payback period of the whole system, it will be acceptable.
The technology still needs further development.
You can separate water to hydrogen and oxygen using solar PV (electric) or by solar thermal (heat). Please see the book for some chapters related to this topic at http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781138000131
There is no simple answer for your question. It's discussed on numerous high profile scientific meetings. Thousands papers are published in this area. As a young researcher you must find your own answer and have your own opinion.
Yes, mohamad, i agree! The process i described is great from the aspect of environment protection, availability of the needed copmounds (water) and solar energy, but yes, it is needed to be improved its efficiency what is in the progress, i.e. Involving new materials for the system components, etc.
Water is the fuel of the future. This was what the famous French science fiction writer Jules Verne predicted a long time ago. In his novel (The mysterious island) (L'île mystérieuse) he explains that water may be separated by electricity into its two constituent elements, namely hydrogen and oxygen, and these two gases may then provide us with all the energy we need. Obviously, a source of energy is needed to generate the electricity required for the electrolysis of water, and sun light or sun energy may be our only choice when all our fossil fuels including coal, oil and natural gas, run out. So, we need not fear or worry about energy scarcity when we have the energy of the sun and all the water of the oceans. In effect, as Jules Verne, says: " Oui, mes amis, je crois que l’eau sera un jour employée comme combustible, que l’hydrogène et l’oxygène, qui la constituent, utilisés isolément ou simultanément, fourniront une source de chaleur et de lumière inépuisables et d’une intensité que la houille ne saurait avoir." He then concludes by saying: L’eau est le charbon de l’avenir.
It is still a story written by an author, i am speaking scientifically, there are other methods to extract hydrogen from the water, e.g. Oxidizing aluminum. I am quite sure with the time amazing methods will be shown up.
SHEC Labs, founded in 1996, has developed technologies to more economically harness the power of the sun, reduce the temperatures required for the disassociation of water and more economically produce hydrogen from fossil fuels. Their solar concentrators can be used for heating, thermal based air conditioning, electrical power generation, hydrogen production, and other applications.
SHEC is developing Thermo Chemical and Solar Electric Hydrogen Processes to extract hydrogen from water using the sun’s energy. This has the potential for becoming an economical method for the commercial scale production of clean renewable hydrogen. The process relies on a thermal-catalytic cycle which requires heat as an input. Instead of burning fossil fuels to create the necessary process heat (and generating greenhouse gases in the process), SHEC labs intends to employ the heat of the sun by using mirrors to focus sunlight onto a chemical reactor.
Yes, you can. Germany is the leader in this field. Design cars with this technology. Economically still need time.
At present the best way to obtain fuel from water is through electrolysis of water with the help of photo voltaic cells. This process is further facilitated by the breakthrough of the researchers of MIT, where they have successfully performed electrolysis of neutral pH water. Check-http://www.sciencemag.org/content/321/5892/1072 and http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:MIT:Daniel_Nocera:Catalytic_Electrolysis
An approach which promises to be popular in the future is heat-driven water splitting. Check- http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428260/a-better-way-to-get-hydrogen-from-water/
- Photocatalytic water splitting using semiconductors, nanopowders.
- Thermochemical water splitting using the heat of solar stations, solar ovens.
- Chemical and photochemical reactions accompanied with hydrolysis, water dissociation.
- Biophotolysis.
- Etc.
Hope my article helps you in your research work.
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Hi Folks, Anyone that makes a research on fatbergs and the people who help recycling cooking oils to avoid the sewer cloggings?
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