000153089 001__ 153089
000153089 005__ 20251017144607.0
000153089 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.3390/en18061398
000153089 0248_ $$2sideral$$a143606
000153089 037__ $$aART-2025-143606
000153089 041__ $$aeng
000153089 100__ $$aLima, Alessandro José$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000153089 245__ $$aNon-renewable and renewable exergy costs of water electrolysis in hydrogen production
000153089 260__ $$c2025
000153089 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted
000153089 5203_ $$aHydrogen production via water electrolysis and renewable electricity is expected to play a pivotal role as an energy carrier in the energy transition. This fuel emerges as the most environmentally sustainable energy vector for non-electric applications and is devoid of CO2 emissions. However, an electrolyzer’s infrastructure relies on scarce and energy-intensive metals such as platinum, palladium, iridium (PGM), silicon, rare earth elements, and silver. Under this context, this paper explores the exergy cost, i.e., the exergy destroyed to obtain one kW of hydrogen. We disaggregated it into non-renewable and renewable contributions to assess its renewability. We analyzed four types of electrolyzers, alkaline water electrolysis (AWE), proton exchange membrane (PEM), solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC), and anion exchange membrane (AEM), in several exergy cost electricity scenarios based on different technologies, namely hydro (HYD), wind (WIND), and solar photovoltaic (PV), as well as the different International Energy Agency projections up to 2050. Electricity sources account for the largest share of the exergy cost. Between 2025 and 2050, for each kW of hydrogen generated, between 1.38 and 1.22 kW will be required for the SOEC-hydro combination, while between 2.9 and 1.4 kW will be required for the PV-PEM combination. A Grassmann diagram describes how non-renewable and renewable exergy costs are split up between all processes. Although the hybridization between renewables and the electricity grid allows for stable hydrogen production, there are higher non-renewable exergy costs from fossil fuel contributions to the grid. This paper highlights the importance of non-renewable exergy cost in infrastructure, which is required for hydrogen production via electrolysis and the necessity for cleaner production methods and material recycling to increase the renewability of this crucial fuel in the energy transition.
000153089 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN-RESTORE PID2023-148401OB-I00
000153089 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es
000153089 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
000153089 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0001-9282-1428$$aTorrubia, Jorge$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000153089 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0003-3330-1793$$aValero, Alicia$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000153089 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0003-0702-733X$$aValero, Antonio$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000153089 7102_ $$15004$$2590$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Ingeniería Mecánica$$cÁrea Máquinas y Motores Térmi.
000153089 773__ $$g18, 6 (2025), 1398 [24 pp.]$$pENERGIES$$tEnergies$$x1996-1073
000153089 8564_ $$s10509030$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/153089/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada
000153089 8564_ $$s2628234$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/153089/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada
000153089 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:153089$$particulos$$pdriver
000153089 951__ $$a2025-10-17-14:15:48
000153089 980__ $$aARTICLE