Experimental investigation of solar assisted hydrogen production from water and aluminum

Sustainable production of hydrogen at high capacities and low costs is one the main challenges of hydrogen as a future alternative fuel. In this paper, a new hydrogen production system is designed and fabricated to investigate hydrogen production using aluminum and solar energy. Numerous experiments are performed to evaluate the hydrogen production rate, quantitatively and qualitatively. Moreover, correlations between the total hydrogen production volume over time and other parameters are developed and the energy efficiency and conversion ratio of the system are determined. Also, a method is developed to obtain an optimal and stable hydrogen production rate based on system scale and consumed materials. It is observed that at low temperatures, the hydrogen production volume, efficiency and COP of the system increase at a higher sodium hydroxide molarity. In contrast, at high temperatures the results are vice versa. The maximum hydrogen production volume, hydrogen production rate, reactor COP and system efficiency using 0.5 M NaOH solution containing 3.33 g lit−1 aluminum at 30 °C are 6119 mL, 420 mL min−1, 1261 mL H2 per 1 g of Al, and 16%, respectively.