Hydroelectric power hydrogenation

Nuclear power Hydroelectric power Biomass and biogas Hydrogen - the fuel of the future... 

These fuels (pure H2, H2/C02, and H2/C0/C02) can also be produced from renewable energy sources—biomass, solar, windmills, and hydroelectric power. On the other hand, pure H2 can be generated by water electrolysis using nuclear power plants. Hydrogen is the most electro-reactive fuel for fuel cells operating at low and intermediate temperatures. 

The first is the "use it or lose it" principle. Electrical power itself cannot be stored in its pure form it needs to be converted to something else. Just as surplus nuclear and gas-fired power stations may store unused power by using it to pump water back up inside a damper as part of an integrated electrical storage system in combination with a hydroelectric power plant, hydrogen can be similarly used to store unused electrical power. 

A 2001 survey found that almost 95% of the population supported replacing traditional fossil fuels with hydrogen. Iceland shifted it power generation from fossil fuel to hydroelectric power very early and went to geothermal heating after World War II. 

Increasing hydropower production may require additional dams. But, Iceland has unused capacity at existing hydroelectric power plants, which could be used to produce hydrogen in off-peak times. 

The link between solar power in its various manifestations (wind, wave, and hydroelectric power, photovoltaic energy, and even energy from plant matter) and hydrogen energy is fuzzy in many people s minds. A common mistake, made even by some fairly knowledgeable people, is the belief that hydrogen is a source of energy all by itself. It is not. 

Concentration of deuterium by the electrolysis of water was proposed by Washburn and Urey [Wl], used by Lewis [L4] to make the first samples of pure D2O, and employed for the first production of heavy water on a large industrial scale by the Nortic Hydro Company, at Rjukan, Norway. The Rjukan plant makes use of cheap hydroelectric power to produce electrolytic hydrogen for ammonia synthesis and by-product heavy water. 

Therefore water electrolysis is only used where high purity is essential (e.g. for foodstuffs or where catalyst poisoning is a problem) and/or cheap hydroelectric power is available. Moreover it should be remembered that hydrogen is a byproduct in the chlor-alkali industry. 

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