The production of renewable energy in the form of methane using electrolytic hydrogen generation

Abstract

An extrapolation of the world energy consumption from 1990 to 2010 indicates a complete exhaustion of the world reserves of oil, natural gas, uranium, and coal by 2043, 2047, 2051, and 2055, respectively. For the survival of all people in the whole world, intermittent and fluctuating electricity generated from renewable energy should be supplied in the form of usable fuel. We have been working on research and development of global CO 2 recycling for the use of renewable energy produced via electrolytic hydrogen generation in the form of methane. We created energy-saving cathodes for H 2 production, anodes for O 2 evolution without chlorine formation in seawater electrolysis, and catalysts for methanation of CO 2 by the reaction with H 2 , and built pilot plants on an industrial scale. The development of new anode and cathode for alkali water electrolysis, the improvement of the anode for seawater electrolysis and the catalysts for CO 2 methanation, as well as industrial applications are in progress.

Renewable Power-to-Gas: A technological and economic review

“…The plant is relatively small, producing 1 m 3 /h methane (electrical power at electrolyser < 10 kW). Seawater is used for electrolysis [8].…”

“…Hashimoto et al proposed a global CO 2 recycling using sea water and built a pilot plant in 2003 [8]. A broader interest in Power-to-Gas has begun to grow (especially in Europe) in recent years driven by the increasing share of wind and solar power [12e17].…”

CO2 methanation of Ni catalysts supported on tetragonal ZrO2 doped with Ca2+ and Ni2+ ions

“…Thus, if methane is produced efficiently using renewable energies, it can be stored safely and distributed widely as natural gas. There are several proposals to use synthetic methane as an energy carrier, including global CO 2 recycling proposed by Hashimoto [2,3], in which methane is synthesized from the reaction of CO 2 emitted from power plants with hydrogen produced by electrolysis.…”

Electrodeposition of Electroactive Co–B and Co–B–C Alloys for Water Splitting Process in 8 M NaOH Solutions

“…One of the concepts elaborated by Japanese scientists is the application of sustainable energy in the form of methane through electrolytic production of hydrogen [1][2][3]. It relies on utilization of CO 2 generated by mankind to methane.…”