An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluation

Population growth and urbanization have significantly affected the energy demand and environmental contaminant levels worldwide. Currently, global warming with greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, acid rain, environmental degradation, and depletion of energy resources are all consequences of uti...

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Main Author: Ayşegül Yağmur Gören
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Kyrgyz Turkish Manas University 2025-06-01
Series:MANAS: Journal of Engineering
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Online Access:https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/4361123
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author Ayşegül Yağmur Gören
author_facet Ayşegül Yağmur Gören
author_sort Ayşegül Yağmur Gören
collection DOAJ
description Population growth and urbanization have significantly affected the energy demand and environmental contaminant levels worldwide. Currently, global warming with greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, acid rain, environmental degradation, and depletion of energy resources are all consequences of utilizing fossil fuel-powered energy infrastructure. Hence, renewable energy-powered alternative energy resources must be considered to minimize atmospheric emissions and environmental contaminants. Hydrogen (H2) has become a viable fuel to satisfy energy needs, and in recent years, there has been a lot of interest in green H2 production, particularly using electrolysis processes that produce no emissions. In this regard, this paper utilized the atmospheric emission assessment software to evaluate atmospheric contaminants from the alkaline electrolysis (AE), proton exchange membrane-based electrolysis (PEM), and solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) processes. Among these processes, the highest CO2 emission comes from the PEM electrolysis process, accounting for 4.68 kg-CO2/kg-H2, while the AE process provides the minimum total CO2 emissions of 3.28 kg-CO2/kg-H2. A similar trend was observed in the particulate matter (PM) emissions, and the PM2.5 emissions were 1.36, 1.30, and 1.24 kg-PM2.5/kg-H2 for PEM, SOE, and AE processes, respectively. Moreover, the environmental impact parameters of the processes were assessed, and the lowest global warming potential (GWP) of 3.32 kgCO2-eq./kg-H2 was obtained for the AE process. Accordingly, these results demonstrated that energy production techniques may be completely environmentally sustainable by substituting fully sustainable resources for the energy sources employed in current H2 production methods.
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spelling doaj-art-49efb16b5d9748d99a2d9cf70c038d9f2025-08-20T03:29:35ZengKyrgyz Turkish Manas UniversityMANAS: Journal of Engineering1694-73982025-06-01131405110.51354/mjen.15840611437An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluationAyşegül Yağmur Gören0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1114-6059IZMIR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYPopulation growth and urbanization have significantly affected the energy demand and environmental contaminant levels worldwide. Currently, global warming with greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, acid rain, environmental degradation, and depletion of energy resources are all consequences of utilizing fossil fuel-powered energy infrastructure. Hence, renewable energy-powered alternative energy resources must be considered to minimize atmospheric emissions and environmental contaminants. Hydrogen (H2) has become a viable fuel to satisfy energy needs, and in recent years, there has been a lot of interest in green H2 production, particularly using electrolysis processes that produce no emissions. In this regard, this paper utilized the atmospheric emission assessment software to evaluate atmospheric contaminants from the alkaline electrolysis (AE), proton exchange membrane-based electrolysis (PEM), and solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) processes. Among these processes, the highest CO2 emission comes from the PEM electrolysis process, accounting for 4.68 kg-CO2/kg-H2, while the AE process provides the minimum total CO2 emissions of 3.28 kg-CO2/kg-H2. A similar trend was observed in the particulate matter (PM) emissions, and the PM2.5 emissions were 1.36, 1.30, and 1.24 kg-PM2.5/kg-H2 for PEM, SOE, and AE processes, respectively. Moreover, the environmental impact parameters of the processes were assessed, and the lowest global warming potential (GWP) of 3.32 kgCO2-eq./kg-H2 was obtained for the AE process. Accordingly, these results demonstrated that energy production techniques may be completely environmentally sustainable by substituting fully sustainable resources for the energy sources employed in current H2 production methods.https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/4361123atmospheric contaminantselectrolysishydrogen productionsustainabilityenvironmental assessment
spellingShingle Ayşegül Yağmur Gören
An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluation
MANAS: Journal of Engineering
atmospheric contaminants
electrolysis
hydrogen production
sustainability
environmental assessment
title An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluation
title_full An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluation
title_fullStr An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluation
title_full_unstemmed An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluation
title_short An atmospheric impact assessment of water-based hydrogen production methods: Sustainability evaluation
title_sort atmospheric impact assessment of water based hydrogen production methods sustainability evaluation
topic atmospheric contaminants
electrolysis
hydrogen production
sustainability
environmental assessment
url https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/4361123
work_keys_str_mv AT aysegulyagmurgoren anatmosphericimpactassessmentofwaterbasedhydrogenproductionmethodssustainabilityevaluation
AT aysegulyagmurgoren atmosphericimpactassessmentofwaterbasedhydrogenproductionmethodssustainabilityevaluation