Good question, and interesting too!
The moment we speak about electrolyser and electrolysis of water , the question is water consumption would lead to Water scarcity ?
Let us look at these aspects of Green hydrogen production.
(1) When you electrolyse water, you get Hydrogen and oxygen. How do you use hydrogen- so called Green hydrogen ?
(2) For electricity power generation, along with electrolyser you need a Fuel cell which is just the reverse of electrolysis. We know that in a Fuel cell , hydrogen combines with oxygen to produce electricity and the bye product is water which can be re-circulated to split it back to hydrogen.
Needless to say that the electrolyser is run by solar /wind power which involves no water consumption !
(3) If Green Hydrogen is used as fuel for mobility …Automobiles/ ships / trains – For FCEV …Again fuel cell converts hydrogen to water which can either be captured or let out…water comes back in to system .
If hydrogen is used as fuel for IC engine, hydrogen is burnt in oxygen and the products of combustion is water. no other emissions
(4) If Green Hydrogen is used as domestic kitchen fuel , it produce only and only water unlike LPG/ PNG which produce carbon dioxide along with water /steam.
(5) If Green Hydrogen is used for fertiliser plant or other industries for different chemical synthesis , perhaps you may not get back water…
But then these cases , Even if you don’t Use green hydrogen ( electrolysis of water ) , what is the current/conventional/ traditional method of getting Hydrogen…??? Grey hydrogen , Blue hydrogen -From natural gas and coal – both requires huge amount of water for steam reforming and hydrogen synthesis and a lot of carbon emissions are the bye products, which are responsible for accumulation of Green house gas leading to Global warming , climate change apart from affecting health of all living beings in the earth .
(6) Let us assume for the time being that we don’t go for Green hydrogen for electric power generation ? let us continue with thermal power plants- How does the thermal power plants run ???
Coal is used to heat water to produce steam and steam is allowed to drive a turbine generator which produce electricity! so it requires huge amount of water , but the bye products are dozens of toxic gases including Carbon emissions
(7) Today, All Industries , thermal power plants, Automobiles, ships , trains , aeroplanes – Diesel Petrol CNG LPG – kitchen cooking …every human activity produce carbon emission.
so going by the maths done by experts all over the world, Green hydrogen production will have minimal affects on water consumption – and earth surface consists of 3/4 water…and desalination is also an option though.
In any case , when “climate change” is the greatest concern and if it is arrested, the normal water balance of the earth would be maintained by normal evaporation and condensation process ( call it normal rain ).
As of now , we dont seem to have another sustainable alternative other than Green hydrogen for the future energy needs .
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