DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2010.0113. Hydrogen: the future energy carrier

10.1098/rsta.2010.0113

Crossref journal-article

The Royal Society

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (175)

Abstract

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century the limitations of the fossil age with regard to the continuing growth of energy demand, the peaking mining rate of oil, the growing impact of CO 2 emissions on the environment and the dependency of the economy in the industrialized world on the availability of fossil fuels became very obvious. A major change in the energy economy from fossil energy carriers to renewable energy fluxes is necessary. The main challenge is to efficiently convert renewable energy into electricity and the storage of electricity or the production of a synthetic fuel. Hydrogen is produced from water by electricity through an electrolyser. The storage of hydrogen in its molecular or atomic form is a materials challenge. Some hydrides are known to exhibit a hydrogen density comparable to oil; however, these hydrides require a sophisticated storage system. The system energy density is significantly smaller than the energy density of fossil fuels. An interesting alternative to the direct storage of hydrogen are synthetic hydrocarbons produced from hydrogen and CO 2 extracted from the atmosphere. They are CO 2 neutral and stored like fossil fuels. Conventional combustion engines and turbines can be used in order to convert the stored energy into work and heat.

Bibliography

ZÃ¼ttel, A., Remhof, A., Borgschulte, A., & Friedrichs, O. (2010). Hydrogen: the future energy carrier. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 368(1923), 3329â3342.

Authors 4

Andreas Züttel (first)
Arndt Remhof (additional)
Andreas Borgschulte (additional)
Oliver Friedrichs (additional)

References 19 Referenced 501

10.1080/14786449608620846
10.1021/ja01269a023
{'key': 'e_1_3_1_4_1', 'volume-title': 'The essence of oil & gas depletion', 'author': 'Campbell C. J.', 'year': '2003'} / The essence of oil & gas depletion by Campbell C. J. (2003)
Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich. 2000 Magazine bulletin no. 276. Zurich Switzerland ETH.
Engdahl F. W.. 2008 Perhaps 60% of today’s oil price is pure speculation. See http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/engdahl/2008/0502.html.
10.1524/zpch.1989.163.Part_1.0165
{'key': 'e_1_3_1_8_1', 'first-page': '422', 'volume-title': 'Proc. R. Soc. Lond.', 'author': 'Graham T.', 'year': '1867'} / Proc. R. Soc. Lond. by Graham T. (1867)
{'key': 'e_1_3_1_9_1', 'volume-title': 'Nuclear energy and the fossil fuels', 'author': 'Hubbert M. K.', 'year': '1956'} / Nuclear energy and the fossil fuels by Hubbert M. K. (1956)
{'key': 'e_1_3_1_10_1', 'volume-title': 'Inorganic chemistry', 'author': 'Huheey J. E.', 'year': '1983'} / Inorganic chemistry by Huheey J. E. (1983)
10.1007/BF01421741
{'key': 'e_1_3_1_12_1', 'first-page': '222', 'article-title': 'Über einige Eigenschaften und Anwendungen der Molekularkräfte', 'volume': '11', 'author': 'London F.', 'year': '1930', 'journal-title': 'Z. Phys. Chem.'} / Z. Phys. Chem. / Über einige Eigenschaften und Anwendungen der Molekularkräfte by London F. (1930)
10.1029/1999GL900070
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10.1038/20859
10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol13-No4-7
{'key': 'e_1_3_1_18_1', 'first-page': '237', 'volume-title': 'Encyclopedia of physical science and technology', 'author': 'Steinfeld A.', 'year': '2001'} / Encyclopedia of physical science and technology by Steinfeld A. (2001)
{'key': 'e_1_3_1_19_1', 'first-page': '99', 'article-title': 'Sadi Carnot:Technik und Theorie der Dampfmaschine', 'author': 'Wilson S. S.', 'year': '1981', 'journal-title': 'Spektrum Wiss'} / Spektrum Wiss / Sadi Carnot:Technik und Theorie der Dampfmaschine by Wilson S. S. (1981)
Working Group I The physical science basis Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC: Climate Change 2007. Geneva Switzerland: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. See http://www.ipcc.ch/.

Dates

Type	When
Created	15 years, 2 months ago (June 21, 2010, 3:33 a.m.)
Deposited	4 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 18, 2021, 4:02 p.m.)
Indexed	15 minutes ago (Sept. 2, 2025, 5:46 p.m.)
Issued	15 years, 1 month ago (July 28, 2010)
Published	15 years, 1 month ago (July 28, 2010)
Published Online	15 years, 1 month ago (July 28, 2010)
Published Print	15 years, 1 month ago (July 28, 2010)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Z_ttel_2010, title={Hydrogen: the future energy carrier}, volume={368}, ISSN={1471-2962}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0113}, DOI={10.1098/rsta.2010.0113}, number={1923}, journal={Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences}, publisher={The Royal Society}, author={Züttel, Andreas and Remhof, Arndt and Borgschulte, Andreas and Friedrichs, Oliver}, year={2010}, month=jul, pages={3329–3342} }

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