ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem. Eng.
Sec. Sustainable Process Engineering
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fceng.2025.1526331
This article is part of the Research TopicLow-Carbon Hydrogen Production and ApplicationsView all articles
Sustainable-green Hydrogen Production through Integrating Electrolysis, Water Treatment and Solar Energy
Provisionally accepted
- Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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The growing interest in hydrogen as an alternative fuel has stimulated research into methods that enable the global shift to sustainable, green energy. One promising pathway is the production of green hydrogen via electrolysis, particularly when coupled with renewable energy sources like solar power. Integrating a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer with solar energy can aid this transition. Using treated sewage effluent, instead of deionized water, can make the process more economical and sustainable. Thus, the objective of this research is to demonstrate that an integrated electrolysis-water treatment-solar energy system can be a viable candidate for producing green hydrogen in a sustainable manner. This study assesses different combinations of water pretreatment (RO and UF) and solar energy input (PV, ST, and PTC), evaluating their technoeconomic feasibility, efficiencies, environmental impact, and sustainability. The study shows that CSP scenarios have the highest CAPEX, roughly fourfold that of PV cases and sevenfold that of national grid cases. Using solar energy sources like PV, ST, and PTC results in high material efficiency (94.87%) and environmental efficiency (98.34%), while also reducing CO₂ emissions by approximately 88% compared to the national grid. The process's economic sustainability averages 57%, but it could reach 90% if hydrogen production costs fall to $2.08-$2.27 per kg. The outcome of this study is to provide a green hydrogen production pathway that is technically feasible, environmentally sustainable, and economically viable.
Keywords: Sustainable hydrogen, Solar Energy, Water treatment, PEM electrolyzer, Green hydrogen
Received: 11 Nov 2024; Accepted: 24 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Karagoz, Badruzzaman and Eljack. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Seckin Karagoz, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Fadwa Eljack, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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