Hydrogen Production From Water Electrolysis: Current Status and Future Trends

TLDR

The review begins by explaining the thermodynamic and electrochemical fundamentals of electrolysis cells and their potential for large‑scale module construction. The paper aims to review water electrolysis technologies for hydrogen production and survey their integration with renewable energy sources. The review covers alkaline, PEM, and solid oxide electrolysis technologies, their characteristics, advantages, drawbacks, and challenges, evaluates commercial electrolyzer manufacturers, and outlines configurations for integrating electrolysis units with renewable energy in autonomous and grid‑connected systems. The authors present configurations for integrating electrolysis units with renewable energy in autonomous and grid‑connected systems and comment on relevant demonstration projects.

Abstract

This paper reviews water electrolysis technologies for hydrogen production and also surveys the state of the art of water electrolysis integration with renewable energies. First, attention is paid to the thermodynamic and electrochemical processes to better understand how electrolysis cells work and how they can be combined to build big electrolysis modules. The electrolysis process and the characteristics, advantages, drawbacks, and challenges of the three main existing electrolysis technologies, namely alkaline, polymer electrolyte membrane, and solid oxide electrolyte, are then discussed. Current manufacturers and the main features of commercially available electrolyzers are extensively reviewed. Finally, the possible configurations allowing the integration of water electrolysis units with renewable energy sources in both autonomous and grid-connected systems are presented and some relevant demonstration projects are commented.