Produção de hidrogênio verde e o consumo de água em plantas de eletrólise

Abstract

After the war between Russia and Ukraine, European countries were affected regarding the supply of natural gas, for this reason the European Union decided to speed up the search for alternative renewable energies. Aiming to meet commitments signed in Paris Agreement on 2015, several European countries started to encourage production of green hydrogen, funding the deployment of production plants signing partnerships with developing countries, Brazil among them. In this regard, green hydrogen production plays a crucial role in the energy transition, one of the production pathways being by water electrolysis with renewable energy sources. This study mentions the different ways to produce hydrogen, with emphasis in water electrolysis where the electrolyzer is provided by renewable energy, with zero greenhouse gas emissions. The specific objective is to analyze water and energy consumption in the electrolysis plant along the whole green hydrogen production process. The study presents different technologies of electrolyzers, several alternatives of water sources to feed the equipment as well as an analysis of sustainability aspects, in order identify the water footprint and environmental impact. As real study case the Federal University of Itajubá´s Green Hydrogen Center (CH2V/UNIFEI) is presented.