92 Proceedings of The 5 th Sriwijaya International Seminar on Energy and Environmental Science & Technology Palembang, Indonesia September 10-11, 2014 Effects of Electrical Current, pH, and Electrolyte Addition on Hydrogen Production by Water Electrolysis Sri Haryati 1 *, Davit Susanto 1 , and Vika Fujiyama 1 1 Chemical Engineering Department Sriwijaya University Jalan Raya Palembang-Prabumulih Km 32 Indralaya OI Sumatera Selatan Indonesia Corresponding author : haryati_djoni@yahoo.co.id ABSTRACT Hydrogen is viewed as one of the most potential energy source in the future. One of methods to produce hydrogen is by electrolysis of water. Variables that was applied in this work were electrical current (0.5 A and 0.9 A), pH (13.47 and 13.69), and electrolyte additions (namely NaOH and KOH) with processing times for 30 minutes. The result of this work were variations of electrical current at 0.9 A, pH at 13.69 and electrolyte NaOH is at 278.394 L with volume rate 154.663 mL/s produced most amount of hydrogen, whereas condition of 0.5 A, pH 13.47 and electrolyte KOH was 75.122 L with volume rate of 41.734 mL/s yielded the lowest amount. Keywords : Hydrogen, Electrolysis of Water, Current, pH, Electrolyte 1. INTRODUCTION As the world population increases, so is the energy consumption. However, to met the energy demand, most countries utilizes fossil fuel-based processes, that are relatively inefficient and environmentally unfriendly. Alternative energy is needed to be developed to overcome problems incurred by the consumption and usage of fossil fuel. One of these options is by using hydrogen as new energy source. There are several considerations that are taken into account to choose hydrogen as an alternative energy includes: an overwhelming amount that can be obtained easily, the potential high energy content compared to other fuels, which is equal to 120 MJ / kg. This amount is almost two times as much as the energy content of the gasoline, which accounts only 45.6 MJ / kg (Kelly-Yong et al., 2007). There are several methods for producing hydrogen: steam reforming of natural gas (SMR), thermal cracking of natural gas, coal gasification, partial oxidation of oil, thermochemical process, fermentation, and the electrolysis of water (Winter, 2009). Electrolysis of water is an environmentally-friendly way to produce hydrogen without emissions. In this work, electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen used variations of electrical current (0.5 A and 0.9 A), pH (13.47 and 13.69) and electrolyte addition (NaOH and KOH). 2. METHODS 2.1. Preparation of Electrolyte Solution Electrolyte solutions used were NaOH and KOH which were prepared by dissolving the solid compound into 2500 mL of distilled water to obtain solutions with pH 13.47 and 13.69. 2.2. Electrolysis Process Electrolyte solution was entered into the reactor into the center of the reactor. Electrolysis process was undertaken for 30 minutes. Measurements of the parameters were conducted every 5 minutes. The applied current were 0.5 A