Water Electrolysis and Solar Hydrogen Demonstration Projects

In this chapter, nearly all conventional and newly developed processes for water electrolysis will be considered, and an overview of demonstration projects in which hydrogen is electrolytically produced from solar, wind, and hydroenergy will be given. After a brief historical description of hydrogen, water electrolysis, and solar hydrogen economy, a systematic classification of all possible water electrolysis processes will be presented. In order to help the reader understand the development opportunities of the processes, the physicochemical fundamentals and the problems of engineering for water electrolysis will be discussed, including considerations of thermodynamics, electrocatalysis, and the reaction mechanisms of hydrogen and oxygen evolution.