An Overview of Hydrogen Production from Renewable Sources and Its Main Applications

Abstract

There is a misconception that sustainability is only related to greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, and that this is the only risk to which the planet is exposed. Sustainability is a multidimensional concept and must advance simoutaneously on several fronts, such as the urgent need to increase energy, clean water, clean air, food, mobility, health, and poverty reduction. All the problems of these multi‐dimensions are aggravated by the continuous growth of the world population, mainly in economic and socio‐environmental issues. However, the biggest challenge is to increase the supply of clean energy from renewable sources, as all other dimensions of sustainability depend on energy supply and policy decisions. The consumption of fossil fuels has supplied the current energy demand by approximately 87 %. Still, there are predictions of depletion, and the effects caused on the environment by the production of greenhouse gases bring significant economic losses. In this review, we will address the most common methods for hydrogen production, as well as its main technological applications in organic synthesis and for energy generation.