Advances in Fuel Cell Technologies for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

The increasing rate of industrialization and urbanization increases waste and wastewater generation along with global energy demand. That makes the necessity of the current waste treatment and process technologies to be upgraded into the sustainable or green energy generation such as hydrogen production from the waste materials and hydrogen fuel cells-based technologies. Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that use hydrogen as fuel cells for electricity or heat generation. The fuel cells-based technologies are in the infant stage and need to be explored for the vital utilization of hydrogen for the various energy related applications. Stationary application of fuel cells or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles related technologies are hotspot research areas in the 21st century. In this chapter, the authors summarize the recent development of the hydrogen production from waste, current state of the art in hydrogen fuel cells, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their economic and sustainability benefits. It also includes the key challenges of these technologies for commercial applications.