Hydrogen as Fuel and Its Impacts on Environment (original) (raw)

2018, Journal of agricultural science & technology A

Energy consumption per capita is a kind of indication of the development for a society. Energy sources, today, are mainly fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) which can cause severe environmental problems such as acid rains, global warming and climate changes. In addition to severe environmental problems, the sources of fossil fuels are finite. Because of increasing need of energy, researchers are forced to search for renewable energy sources such as hydro, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, wave, tide and so on. Hydrogen (H 2) seems to be more promising for a clean energy source. In fact, it is a clean energy carrier with a role to save environment. It does also reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by using it as a fuel in fuel cells or in internal combustion engines directly. For usage of H 2 as fuel, it is necessary either to compress or to liquefy it. Both processes are difficult and costly. Metallic and nonmetallic hydrides have received considerable research interest in recent years. NaBH 4 is the one of the most prospective H 2 storage materials as it stores 10.8 weight % hydrogen. H 2 is generated by hydrolysis reaction of NaBH 4 in the presence of a suitable catalyst. Another important fact with fuel cells is that the 2nd law of thermodynamics is bypassed so that no thermal efficiency limitations are imposed. In this paper, adverse effects of fossil fuels and positive effects of fuel cells on environment are emphasized.