An analysis of the economic production and use of green hydrogen

Abstract The paper studies technological and economic details of green hydrogen production. Among all hydrogen categories defined by the ratio between production technology and CO2 environmental pollution, for energy applications, only green hydrogen has a future. The same projection can be seen in the transport sector. An analysis of the H2 thermochemical formation technologies showed that ecological hydrogen, called blue hydrogen, can be obtained only by a total separation of hydrogen from CO2, to be recirculated. The thermochemical decomposition of water involves the use of three types of electrolysis cells, of which the solid acid cell (SOEC) is the most economical. Membrane-free water electrolysis is considered as a technology of the future. Production costs are related to storage, compression and distribution. The environmental tax through CO2 emission was also included in the production cost calculation. A numerical application related to the green hydrogen production is also presented, as well as the achievements in field in EU and Romania, along with future perspectives.