Comparative Study of Hydrogen Production Methods: Electrolyzing and Reforming Mohamad Nour, Chaiban Haykal and Nazih Moubayed Faculty of Engineering 1, Lebanese University El-Arz Street, El-Kobbeh, Tripoli, Lebanon E-mail: nmoubayed@ieee.org ABSTRACT Fuel cells, which are one of non pollutant energy production sources, need hydrogen for their functioning. This paper represents the production of hydrogen from water electrolyzing by first, explaining the process thermodynamically, chemically and electrically and second, by specifying some types of electrolyzing. Also, hydrogen production from biomass by aqueous phase reforming the processes and Plasma reforming of hydrocarbon fuels will also be explained in the same way. Finally, a comparison between electrolyzing methods and reforming strategies is studied. KEYWORDS Alkaline Water Electrolyzer; Solid Water Electrolyzer; Solid Oxide Electrolyzer; Aqueous Phase Reforming; Hydrocarbon Reforming. 1 INTRODUCTION The world is heading to the era of using and developing new, clean and renewable energy resources, and that’s because of the massive use of the current nuclear and fossil fuel energy that causes serious pollution, climate change and waste generation [1-10]. For that matter, using renewable source of energy instead is getting quite spectacular in the recent years [11-26]. Moreover, the total energy produced by the renewable energy reached about 1230GW in 2009, 7% more than in the 2008, which is almost the quarter of the worldwide energy produced (4800GW), where the wind power takes the lead by increasing of 38GW. The photovoltaic solar energy has increased. As well for the grid-connected technology, it reaches up to 21GWp [27],[28]. The emerging challenge is based on increasing the production of electricity from renewable energy, although other challenges rise concerning different subject like storing [29- 40], distributing, managing, etc [41-43]. Hydrogen is a suitable way to face these challenges and to create a new energy system. It is true that the lightest element is hydrogen, it is even 15 lighter than air, but, on the other hand, it has the Highest Heating Value (HHV) 39.42 kWh/Kg, that is, 2.5 and around three times more energetic than methane and gasoline, respectively [10], [44-47]. Despite being a plentiful element, it is hardly found in his pure state. Also despite that water is very plentiful on earth, about 4% of hydrogen is produces out of it and the rest 96% is produced from fossil fuels [48-52]. By the chosen materials, the methods to produce hydrogen are classified. Starting with fossil fuel as a source, steam reforming and partial oxidation of hydrocarbons, although, coal gasification are used [10], [49],[50]. In addition, using biomass as a source and using the same procedures, hydrogen can be obtained. Economically speaking, producing hydrogen from fossil fuel is nothing more than a temporary or transition state, because the future is looking forward to use water for that matter. Electrolyzing is the most important way to produce hydrogen. It is done by passing a current into the water to dissociate it. After purifying the obtained hydrogen, its purity could rise up to 99.9%, which is very good hydrogen to be used in fuel cells. Yet, a suggestion is made that is to build the electrolyzing facility near hydraulics power station where there is both water and electricity. This paper discusses and compares the hydrogen production methods. It is divided in six Sections. Section 2 presents the fundamentals of water electrolyzing. Hydrogen production from electrolyzer or by reforming are respectively studied in Sections 3 and 4. A comparison and discussions between the presented electrolyzers, ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC 176