Seawater Used to Create Hydrogen Fuel

What is this new way of generating hydrogen fuel?

Did you know that water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen? Each molecule of water contains two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen.

Researchers in Australia have successfully split seawater to produce green hydrogen without pre-treatment. They used electrolysis to separate seawater into oxygen and hydrogen to produce green hydrogen. This was done using a low-cost catalyst.

Right now, making hydrogen fuel is a costly process. But scientists are trying to make it cheaper so that hydrogen fuel can be used more instead of fossil fuels. Hydrogen is a clean energy source that only releases water when burned.

The researchers hope that their idea can one day help in the production of hydrogen fuel. For now, this method is still in its early stages of development.

How was the research conducted?

Normally, seawater must be cleaned before electrolysis can separate hydrogen and oxygen from it but that increases the cost of the process. During this research, the scientists used seawater as a feedstock and did not use any pre-treatment methods such as reverse osmosis.

Seawater is available more than freshwater, and the ability to produce hydrogen fuel from seawater without pre-treatment could save money. The findings were published in the journal Nature Energy.

What are some advantages of using hydrogen as an energy source?

Unlike fossil fuels, which release large amounts of greenhouse gases and cause air pollution, hydrogen fuel produces just water. Hydrogen fuel does not harm the environment.

But producing hydrogen fuel is expensive, so scientists must develop ways to lower production costs. Only then will ordinary people be able to purchase and use this form of energy.

At a recent event, a hydrogen-powered truck was shown by Reliance Industries. Ashok Leyland built the truck with two large hydrogen tanks. It produces almost zero pollution when hydrogen is used as a fuel instead of diesel or natural gas.

What did we learn from this article?

We learned about the work of scientists who are trying to develop other, less expensive fuel sources that are not harmful to the environment. It is important to protect the environment because, without it, there would be no life on Earth. We should always do our part to save the environment by not wasting water, learning about recycling, and saving fuel.