Identification of Low Temperature Carbon-Free Hydrogen Production Methods through Thermochemical Cycle Synthesis

The hydrogen economy presents itself as a means for reducing our energy requirements and overall environmental impact. Although energy conversions via hydrogen fuel cells are highly efficient, environmentally friendly, cost effective hydrogen production has been largely unrealized. Here we present a systems-engineering approach to identifying, screening, and evaluating thermochemical cycles, in which low temperature, carbon-free hydrogen production is achieved through emulating water-splitting. It is shown that with the presented methodology we can quickly and efficiently synthesize and evaluate complete sets of hydrogen producing reaction clusters based on thermodynamic feasibility and overall cycle efficiency.