Microbial Electrolysis Systems for Biohydrogen: A Path Toward Global Economic Sustainability and Green Policies
摘要
Hydrogen is considered as a future fuel due to its great energy mass and potential for zero-carbon productions during combustion. However, the hydrogen production process needs to be technologically and economically viable and have a low carbon footprint in order to achieve sustainable growth and net zero. The degradation of organics waste through microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) systems produces H2 gas, while Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) required minor supplementary energy to produce H2. The technology evaluation analysis (TEA) of several hydrogen production processes helps determine the most cost-effective biohydrogen generation process, which in turn helps the system spread more quickly by drawing in investors. Dark and photofermentation, bio-photolysis, MECs, and hybrid approaches combining various processes are the main methods for producing biohydrogen. These methods use biomass or organic waste as a feedstock so that biological processes can produce hydrogen. The production of biohydrogen from biomass through dark-photofermentation is a carbon-neutral process when using agricultural waste, according to a life cycle assessment (LCA). However, the method’s overall environmental impact is largely dependent on how well the hydrolysis and photofermentation processes work. Since hydrogen is produced from renewable resources, it is a clean energy source that is also environmentally benign. Through a variety of techno-economic and LCA conducted for the efficient production of hydrogen, this chapter provides an overview of the numerous approaches available for the generation, storage, and economic and environmental perspectives of biohydrogen.