Review on Compressed Hydrogen as Contemporary Renewable Energy Resource

Abstract

Economic and ecological aspects of hydrogen use and analyzes of its characteristics for possible use as an alternative, renewable resource are presented in this work together with methods of its production, compression and transport, including experimental methodology of nanocapillaries. Due to the high price of its production technology, use of compressed hydrogen is limited nowadays. Numerous researches identify the most efficient ways of hydrogen production and storage that can be economically highly competitive at market. New advanced technologies of hydrogen production, together with extent of the photo-biological, photo-electrical and thermo-chemical use, could be used but, for now, are not neither acceptable nor have economic benefits. At the same time, innovation of classical methods of hydrogen storage highlight that most probably metal hydrides, respectively the newest technology of carbonate nanocapillaries and glassy microspheres, could be used. As one of the major challenges was identified establishment of hydrogen in the transport field, as a replacement for a fuel in the internal combustion engines, respectively as the fuel for driven fuel cells. Price of hydrogen limits the wider use of the fuel cell technology even thought is developed enough to be introduced in the commercial vehicles.