Chapter 10
Hydrogen Future: Toward Industrial
Applications
Nowadays the high levels of pollution, contaminated air, change in climate, accidents, obstruction, land usage, and the noise pollution declared modern transportation as “unsustainable.” In the growing metro cities across the world, the air pollution
from transportation is becoming serious threat to the human existence. The emission
of greenhouse gases from automobiles and burning of fossil fuel are menacing to
mankind, along with the serious decline in fossil fuel reserves. In the coming years,
a continuous increase in human population is estimated, which will enhance global
fuel demand [1]. Other than this enhanced consumption of fuel leads to increased
emission of carbon dioxide and overall temperature of the earth [2].
The use of hydrogen as the fuel in different areas such as industry and transportation is an effective measure against increasing pollution and depleting fuel sources.
However, at present, the generation, storage, and use of hydrogen are not economical. The factors which can affect the hydrogen fuel supply are demand level, availability of resource, geographic features, and most importantly the technology development for hydrogen generation and storage [3]. There are several elements which
should be considered for the supply of hydrogen fuel as the alternative to commonly
employed fuels. These elements are applications for which fuel is required, generation processes of the fuel, the possible pathways, and the problems linked to the shift
toward large-scale development.
Currently, there are some technical barriers in the path of transition from carbonbased energy economy to a hydrogen-based system. The first and foremost is the
cost reduction in hydrogen energy, and the production, storage, and delivery. The
overall prices of hydrogen fuel and hydrogen-based system must be controlled and
expensive items must be replaced with more efficient and economical alternatives.
The cost of fuel cell and other hydrogen-based systems must also be reduced [4].
Otherwise, it is near impossible to make hydrogen a commercial alternative to the
carbon-based fuel. Secondly, the hydrogen storage mediums are not enough for both
automobile and stationary (battery) applications. The new and better technology
must be developed with the eradication of shortcomings in previous systems. The
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Farrukh et al., Nanotechnology and the Generation of Sustainable Hydrogen,
Green Energy and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60402-8_10
105
Hydrogen Future: Toward Industrial
Applications
Nowadays the high levels of pollution, contaminated air, change in climate, accidents, obstruction, land usage, and the noise pollution declared modern transportation as “unsustainable.” In the growing metro cities across the world, the air pollution
from transportation is becoming serious threat to the human existence. The emission
of greenhouse gases from automobiles and burning of fossil fuel are menacing to
mankind, along with the serious decline in fossil fuel reserves. In the coming years,
a continuous increase in human population is estimated, which will enhance global
fuel demand [1]. Other than this enhanced consumption of fuel leads to increased
emission of carbon dioxide and overall temperature of the earth [2].
The use of hydrogen as the fuel in different areas such as industry and transportation is an effective measure against increasing pollution and depleting fuel sources.
However, at present, the generation, storage, and use of hydrogen are not economical. The factors which can affect the hydrogen fuel supply are demand level, availability of resource, geographic features, and most importantly the technology development for hydrogen generation and storage [3]. There are several elements which
should be considered for the supply of hydrogen fuel as the alternative to commonly
employed fuels. These elements are applications for which fuel is required, generation processes of the fuel, the possible pathways, and the problems linked to the shift
toward large-scale development.
Currently, there are some technical barriers in the path of transition from carbonbased energy economy to a hydrogen-based system. The first and foremost is the
cost reduction in hydrogen energy, and the production, storage, and delivery. The
overall prices of hydrogen fuel and hydrogen-based system must be controlled and
expensive items must be replaced with more efficient and economical alternatives.
The cost of fuel cell and other hydrogen-based systems must also be reduced [4].
Otherwise, it is near impossible to make hydrogen a commercial alternative to the
carbon-based fuel. Secondly, the hydrogen storage mediums are not enough for both
automobile and stationary (battery) applications. The new and better technology
must be developed with the eradication of shortcomings in previous systems. The
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Farrukh et al., Nanotechnology and the Generation of Sustainable Hydrogen,
Green Energy and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60402-8_10
105