Hydrogen from Alkaline Water Electrolysis: A Case Study on Process Economics of Decentralized Production in the Present Indian Scenario

Distributed or decentralized hydrogen production by alkaline water electrolysis and use of renewable energy resources to obtain at least a part of the electricity necessary for it can be a truly sustainable scheme that will enable several categories of hydrogen users to reduce their carbon footprint significantly in the near future. The process economics of producing hydrogen through electrolysis, with focus on the production cost per unit of hydrogen in the present Indian scenario have been investigated in this work. Actual cost data from in-house facilities have been utilized. The use of electricity from coal based thermal power plants and stand alone solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been considered for comparative economic analysis. Cost escalation over the project lifetime has also been estimated. Effects of various parameters in the cost model on the production cost of hydrogen have been studied. Consideration of the relative storage costs of hydrogen by different technologies has also been made. This analysis and the collection of relevant data used for it are expected to be useful while making investment decisions by hydrogen producer-consumers in the small to medium scales. Cite this Article Rupsha Bhattacharyya, Sandeep KC, Sachin Kamath et al. Hydrogen from Alkaline Water Electrolysis: A Case Study on Process Economics of Decentralized Production in the Present Indian Scenario. Emerging Trends in Chemical Engineering. 2017; 4(3): 1–17p.