Lecture

" Hydrogen Fuel for a Cleaner and Sustainable World "

Ram B. Gupta

Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Auburn University , Auburn , AL 36849 , USA, Phone: 334-844-2013; Email: gupta@auburn.edu

Abstract

Two biggest environmental hazards faced by mankind today are air pollution and global warming. Both have a direct link with our current over-dependence on hydrocarbon fuels. Pollutants produced from combustion of hydrocarbons now cause more health problems due to urbanization of world population. The net increase in environmental carbon dioxide from the combustion is causing global warming, which is endangering the Earth, the only known place to support human life. In addition, the import of expensive hydrocarbon fuel has become a heavy burden on many developing countries.

Both the hazards can be addressed by switching, at least in part, to the use of Hydrogen Fuel. Through its reaction with oxygen, hydrogen releases energy intensely in combustion engines or quietly in fuel cells to produce water as its only byproduct. There is no emission of smoke, CO, CO 2 , NO x , SO x , or O 3 . In fact, the health costs of urban populations can be drastically reduced by switching to Hydrogen automobiles. Hydrogen can be produced from water using a variety of energy sources including solar, wind, nuclear, biomass, natural gas and coal. Since renewable energy sources (solar, wind, and/or biomass) are available in all parts of the world, all countries will have access to Hydrogen Fuel. Hence, a greater democratization of the energy resources will occur. Also the use of solar, wind, or biomass in producing hydrogen does not add to environmental CO 2 . However, before the wide scale use of the Hydrogen Fuel, key technological challenges needs to be resolved, including cost effective production and storage of hydrogen. In the early adoption of Hydrogen Fuel, government incentives will be needed, which may be recovered from the savings in the health care expenditures.

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