Comparative study of hydrogen production from seawater and groundwater using PV–TEG

• Published in: Clean technologies and environmental policy Vol. 25; no. 7; pp. 2451 - 2466
• Main Authors: Gopinath, M., Marimuthu, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-09-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Chemical analysis; Comparative studies; Earth and Environmental Science; Electricity; Electrolysis; Environment; Environmental Economics; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental policy; Green hydrogen; Groundwater; Heat; Heat sinks; Hydrogen; Hydrogen production; Industrial and Production Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Irradiance; Original Paper; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaics; Production; Renewable energy; Seawater; Sustainable Development; Thermoelectric generators; Voltage gain; Water analysis; Green hydrogen; Water splitting; Solar thermal energy; PV; TEG
• ISSN: 1618-954X; 1618-9558
• DOI: 10.1007/s10098-023-02569-1

Green hydrogen is a buzzword in today's renewable energy applications research domain. This paper analyzes the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) and thermoelectric generator (TEG) systems for the same reason. The prototype system includes PV, TEG, a heat sink, and a Hofmann Voltameter. The output of the PV–TEG is initially connected to a Hofmann Voltmeter to conduct electrolysis of groundwater and seawater. Further, a heat sink is pasted on each TEG using a thermally conductive adhesive. Then again, PV–TEG/heat sink output is connected to the Voltameter for electrolysis on the same water source samples. Finally, the comparative exploration is done to give insights into PV–TEG applications for hydrogen production. The explorative study shows a DC voltage gain of up to 1.77 times concerning TEG alone. Further, at 849 W/m
2
of solar irradiance, it is observed that hydrogen production varies from 0.1552 to 0.1639 bar/sec in the case of groundwater and that of seawater goes from 0.1362 to 0.1413 bar/sec when PV–TEG with a heat sink is connected to Voltameter.
Graphic abstract