Hydrogen Production via Load‐Matched Coupled Solar‐Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysis Using Aqueous Methanol

Abstract

Hydrogen production via a directly coupled solar‐proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis system using aqueous methanol instead of water was investigated. The effect of load matching and methanol concentration on hydrogen production rates, electrolysis efficiency, and solar‐hydrogen efficiency was evaluated. The electrolysis efficiencies were subsequently used in simulation studies to estimate production costs in scaled‐up systems. The results demonstrate that the added hydrogen production associated with the methanol solutions leads to favorable hydrogen production costs at smaller scales.

Hydrogen Production from Methanol–Water Solution and Pure Water Electrolysis Using Nanocomposite Perfluorinated Sulfocationic Membranes Modified by Polyaniline

“…Methanol is also envisioned as an energy vector to enable long-distance hydrogen transport. When the destination is more than 7000 km away, generating synthetic methanol from hydrogen and then electrolyzing it at the destination is more economically viable than transporting liquid hydrogen [ 24 ]. Electrolysis of a methanol solution has advantages when implementing integrated solutions, such as small-scale hydrogen generation using solar photovoltaics [ 25 ].…”