Exploring multiple ways for hydrogen production
Hydrogen is mainly produced from water, biomass or natural gas.
- Today, the most common production methods are methane steam reforming (hydrogen from natural gas) and electrolysis (hydrogen from water). Steam reforming is currently the cheapest method of production; however, it leads to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Electrolysis on the other hand is more expensive, but does not result in any extra emissions. The electrical energy needed for electrolysis can be obtained by various primary energy sources, including renewables such as wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal energy.
- Water can also be split by some microorganisms to produce hydrogen.
- Hydrogen can be obtained by refining biomass with thermo-chemical methods, mainly pyrolysis and gasification.
- Biomass can be also biologically fermented by specific microorganisms (photosynthetic or anaerobic fermentation) that produce hydrogen during their metabolic activities.
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