Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Hydrogen Production Science and Technology

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology

  • 379 Accesses

Abstract

Hydrogen is a widely produced and used commodity, now being considered for use as an energy carrier for stationary power and transportation markets. Tens of millions of tonnes of hydrogen are produced each year globally. Major uses of the commercial hydrogen produced currently are for oil refining, where hydrogen is used for “hydrotreating” of crude oil as part of the refining process to improve the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of the fuel, food production (“hydrogenation”), treating metals, and producing ammonia for fertilizer and other industrial uses. There are many means of hydrogen production, from established ones such as steam methane reforming and grid-powered electrolysis to others that are becoming commercially viable and still others that are emerging or being tested in laboratories. Options include various pathways using biogas using gasification or pyrolysis processes, along with newly developed electrochemical and thermochemical processes including using microbial electrolysis cells as well as tailored molecules that can facilitate the splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen with lower energy requirements than conventional electrolysis. This chapter reviews the state of the art of hydrogen production science and technology and identifies key obstacles associated with various pathways where they still exist.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 6,999.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 549.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  1. US Energy Information Administration (EIA) (2008) The Impact of Increased Use of Hydrogen on Petroleum Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Report #: SR-OIAF-CNEAF/2008-04. www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/hydro/appendixc.html, August

  2. Freedonia Group (2010) World hydrogen demand and 2013 forecast. February

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lipman TE, Delucchi MA (2010) Expected greenhouse gas emission reductions by battery, fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. In: Pistoia G (ed) Battery, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. Elsevier, Amsterdam. ISBN: 978-0-444-53565-8

    Google Scholar 

  4. Wang M, Wu Y, Elgowainy A (2007) GREET1.7 fuel-cycle model for transportation fuels and vehicle technologies. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hirschenhofer JH, Stauffer BD, Engleman RR, Klett MG (2000) Fuel Cell Handbook, Fourth Edition. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Technology Center, B/T Books, Orinda

    Google Scholar 

  6. US Department of Energy (2010) The Department of energy hydrogen and fuel cells program plan an integrated strategic plan for the research, development, and demonstration of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies – DRAFT

    Google Scholar 

  7. Anderson A, Carole T (2006) Bio-derived liquids to hydrogen distributed reforming working group background paper. U.S. Department of Energy, HFCIT Program, September

    Google Scholar 

  8. Navarro RM, Pena MA, Fierro JLG (2007) Hydrogen production reactions from carbon feedstocks: fossil fuels and biomass. Chem Rev 107:3952–3991

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Smitkova M, Janicek R, Riccardi J (2009) Life cycle analysis of processes for hydrogen production. Int J Hydrog Energy 34(3):1370–1376

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. U.S. Department of Energy (2011) Hydrogen production: biomass gasification. Web document, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/production/biomass_gasification.html?m=1&

  11. Czernik S, French R, Penev M (2010) Distributed bio-oil refining. DOE hydrogen program FY 2010 annual progress report, pp 38–41

    Google Scholar 

  12. Zhu J (2011) Photocatalytic hydrogen production, (this volume)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Khaselev O, Turner JA (1998) A monolithic photovoltaic-photoelectrochemical device for hydrogen production via water splitting. Science 280:425–427

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Arachchige SM, Brewer KJ (2011) Hydrogen via direct solar production. (this volume)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Joshi AS, Dincer I, Reddy BV (2010) Exergetic assessment of solar hydrogen production methods. Int J Hydrog Energy 35:4901–4908

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Brewer KJ, White T, Quinn K, Wang J, Arachchige S, Knoll J (2011) Photoinitiated electron collection in mixed-metal supramolecular complexes: development of photocatalysts for hydrogen production. DOE hydrogen and fuel cells program 2011 annual merit review meeting

    Google Scholar 

  17. James BD, Baum GN, Perez J, Baum KN (2009) Technoeconomic analysis of photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production. Prepared by Directed Technologies Inc. for the U.S. Department of Energy under DOE Contract Number: GS-10 F-009J, December

    Book  Google Scholar 

  18. Hallenbeck PC (2009) Fermentative hydrogen production: principles, progress, and prognosis. Int J Hydrog Energy 34:7379–7389

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Melis A, Melnecki MR (2006) Integrated biological hydrogen production. Int J Hydrog Energy 31:1563–1573

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Logan BE, Regan JM (2006) Microbial fuel cells – challenges and applications. Environ Sci Technol 1:5173–5180

    Google Scholar 

  21. Brown LC, Besenbruch GE, Funk JE, Marshall AC, Pickard PS, Showalter SK (2002) High Efficiency Generation Of Hydrogen Fuels Using Nuclear Energy. Presentation at U.S., Department of Energy Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Review, Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Mathias PM, Brown LC (2003) Thermodynamics of the sulfur-iodine cycle for thermochemical hydrogen production. Presented at the 68th annual meeting of the society of chemical engineers. Japan, 23 March 2003

    Google Scholar 

  23. Allen D (2009) FY09 projected hydrogen cost estimates for nuclear hydrogen initiative baseline processes. SAND2009-6630P Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque

    Google Scholar 

  24. Jeong YH, Kazimi MS, Hohnholt KJ, Yildiz B (2005) Optimization of the hybrid sulfur cycle for hydrogen generation. MIT–NES–TR–004, May

    Google Scholar 

  25. US Department of Energy (2011) High-temperature water splitting. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/production/water_splitting.html

  26. T-Raissi A, Muradov N, Huang C, Adebiyi O (2007) Hydrogen from solar via light-assisted high-temperature water splitting cycles. Trans ASME 129:184–189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Brouwer J, Margalef P (2011) Hydrogen production from high temperature fuel cells (this volume)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Patel P, Lipp L, Jahnke F, Heydorn E, Abdallah T, Holcomb F (2010) Co-production of renewable hydrogen and electricity: technology development and demonstration. ECS Trans 26(1):493–504

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Cohen M, Snow GC (2008) Hydrogen delivery and storage options for backup power and off-grid primary power fuel cell systems. Published in IEEE Intelec 2008 proceedings

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California – Berkeley, 2150 Allston Way, Suite 280, Berkeley, CA, 94704, USA

    Dr. Timothy E. Lipman Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Dr. Timothy E. Lipman Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Timothy E. Lipman Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. RAMTECH LIMITED, Larkspur, CA, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Lipman, T.E. (2012). Hydrogen Production Science and Technology . In: Meyers, R.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3_755

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation