Abstract
Despite having very clean combustion properties, the majority of hydrogen produced today still comes from fossil fuels. As such, there is a demand for renewably produced hydrogen, such as solar powered electrolysis, so that the hydrogen produced retains its clean credentials. Unfortunately, this process is plagued by inefficiencies and requires improvement in order to economically compete with fossil fuels. This work investigates solar hydrogen production via aqueous methanol (MeOH) electrolysis in comparison to pure water electrolysis in a directly coupled solar-PEM electrolysis system. Experiments were completed to investigate the impact of changing the MeOH concentration, power supply, and load characteristics on electrolysis and solar-hydrogen efficiencies. Simulation studies were then performed to analyse thoroughly the experimental data so as to gain an understanding of the yields and economics of utility scale solar–hydrogen facilities.