Volume 20: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part III

A Precursor Study for Modification of Hydrogen Production by Electrolysis Relebohile Mokete, Frantisek Miksik, Nobuo Takata, Kyaw Thu, Takahiko Miyazaki

Abstract

Various technologies for renewable energy need to be employed for sustainability and the hydrogen production through water electrolysis (WE) is one of the green energy approaches. In this study, solar energy was used for splitting sodium chloride solution into hydrogen gas using an experimental electrolyzer, while the hydrogen production and the performance of the PV cell were evaluated. The incoming solar radiation ranged from 810.1 W/m2 to 637.8 W/m2 whereas the respective atmospheric temperature increased, and humidity subsequently decreased. The efficiency of WE (ȠF) was 61.8% and the PV cell efficiency (ȠSP; at temperature; 25.5oC, humidity; 42.2% and IR; 810.1 810.1 W/m2) was 12.7%. The H2 production was coupled with voltage drop whose minimization needs to be addressed in future research along with improvement of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Keywords Renewable energy, Water electrolysis, Salt electrolysis, Hydrogen gas, Proton exchange membrane, Solar energy