What Is Hydrogen Production Equipment?
Hydrogen Production Equipment is a device that can produce hydrogen.
Hydrogen is an element abundantly present in the earth and is a light, colorless, odorless gas. Hydrogen is often produced from water and is attracting attention as an environmentally friendly energy source. Hydrogen Production Equipment is a technology developed to efficiently produce this hydrogen.
There are two main production methods: The first is steam reforming of LP gas and other materials. The first is steam reforming of LP gas, etc. Fossil fuels such as lignite and hydrocarbons such as methane can also be used as raw materials, but LP gas is used as the raw material for the Hydrogen Production Equipment in practical use.
The second is electrolysis of water, which is produced by electrolyzing alkaline water. Potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide are generally added to make the water alkaline.
Uses of Hydrogen Production Equipment
Hydrogen produced by Hydrogen Production Equipment is used in a variety of applications. The main applications are as follows
1. Fuel Cells
Fuel cells, which produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, are used in a wide range of fields, including power generation for automobiles and households. Cogeneration systems for home use, such as ENEFARM, use hydrogen as fuel, and electricity is generated by the fuel cells.
In order to produce hydrogen, the fuel for this cogeneration system, hydrogen is produced by steam reforming from city gas in the equipment.
2. Industrial Applications
Hydrogen is used as a raw material and reducing agent in the chemical and steel industries. Hydrogen Production Equipment is also used in these applications, as hydrogen is used as a reducing agent in glass production and metal processing.
3. Rocket Fuel
Hydrogen is also used as rocket fuel in its liquid state.
Principle of Hydrogen Production Equipment
1. Steam Reforming Method
Water and hydrocarbons react by spraying high-temperature steam onto the hydrocarbons, resulting in hydrogen as the gas after the reaction. The carbon in the hydrocarbons combines with the oxygen in the water to form carbon monoxide, thus separating the hydrogen molecules from both the hydrocarbons and the water.
2. Electrolysis Method
Two electrodes are placed in an alkaline liquid and voltage is applied to both electrodes to initiate the electrolysis reaction. Hydrogen is produced from the cathode and oxygen from the anode.
Pure water contains no ions, making it very difficult for an electric current to flow, so the electrolyte sodium hydroxide is added. When sodium hydroxide is used, water is simply electrolyzed with hydrogen from the cathode and oxygen from the anode, and the electrolysis can continue without adding sodium hydroxide.
Types of Hydrogen Production Equipment
There are several types of Hydrogen Production Equipment. Each is used differently depending on its characteristics and application.
1. Steam Reformer
Hydrogen Production Equipment that uses natural gas or petroleum to extract hydrogen by reacting these fossil fuels with steam. Currently, the majority of hydrogen is produced by this method. The advantages of this method are its high efficiency and the fact that a large amount of hydrogen can be obtained, but because it uses fossil fuels, it has an environmental impact.
2. Electrolysis Equipment
Hydrogen Production Equipment uses the principle of electrolysis to produce hydrogen by splitting water with electricity. This device can use electricity obtained from environmentally friendly energy sources (e.g., solar and wind power) and is considered to have a low environmental impact. However, there are issues in terms of efficiency and scale, and improvements are needed.
Other Information on Hydrogen Production Equipment
1. Hydrogen Production Equipment Using Renewable Energy
The use of hydrogen energy is being introduced in Japan and abroad, mainly in the energy sector, as part of efforts toward future decarbonization, and its use is expected to continue to grow, as the government formulated its Basic Hydrogen Strategy in December 2017 and is expanding its efforts to realize a hydrogen society as a whole.
As part of future energy measures, it is expected that electricity from renewable energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.) will be used to extract pure hydrogen. Technology to produce hydrogen by alkaline water electrolysis using sunlight, etc. has already been developed, and is directed toward the development of fuel cells for hydrogen vehicles, etc.
2. Hydrogen Production Equipment Used in Refineries
Hydrogen has become an indispensable component of oil refining in today’s petroleum refineries. In the oil refining process, hydrogen is used in a process called “desulfurization” to remove sulfur content from raw materials and products.
Hydrogen is also useful in hydrocracking units that use hydrogen gas in catalytic reactions to produce high-quality oil and other products. Hydrogen Production Equipment is often installed in petroleum refineries because hydrogen is used in large quantities, especially in the process of refining heavy oil, and hydrogen produced as a byproduct of various industrial processes is not enough to meet the demand.
There are two methods of hydrogen production using hydrocarbons: steam reforming, in which a thermochemical reaction proceeds from steam over a catalyst, and partial oxidation, in which the reaction proceeds without a catalyst.