Economic Hydrogen Production by Water Splitting with Different Catalysts and Temperatures under Thermal and Gamma Radiation-thermal Processes

This article describes hydrogen production via water splitting because of high green energy demand globally. The amounts of hydrogen produced with zirconium in thermal processes at 473 K and radiation-thermal processes at 473 K and 773K were 1.55 x 1018, 2.2 x 1018 and 4.1 x 1018 molecules/g. These amounts on aluminum and stainless steel were 1.05 x 1018, 1.95 x 1018 and 3.0 x 1018 molecules/g; and 0.30 x 1018, 1.27 x 1018 and 2.6 x 1018 molecules/g. A comparison was carried out and the order of hydrogen production was zirconium > aluminum > stainless steel. The activation energy in radiation-thermal and thermal processes were 14.2 and 65.0 kJ/mol (Zr), 12.05 and 63.1 kJ/mol (Al) and 11.16 and 61.52 kJ/mol (SS). The mechanisms of water splitting were developed and described for future use. The described methods are scalable and can be transferred to a pilot scale.