In t
he market t
here are conventional alkaline electrolysers and advanced polymer mem
brane electrolysers, wit
h hig
her performance,
but t
hey are
bot
h quite expensive. Indeed, t
he materials commonly utilized for water electrolysis in alkaline electrolysers are t
hose
based on Raney nickel and t
heir alloys,
but t
hese materials are expensive. Taking into account t
hose aspects, t
he following work aims, as ot
her aut
hors [Olivares-Ramíreza JM, Campos-Cornelio
b ML, Uri
be Godínez
b J, Borja-Arco
b E, Castellanos
b RH. Studies on t
he
hydrogen evolution reaction on different stainless steels. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2007; 32: 3170–3.
bbib1"">href=""http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V3F-4SF9C4W-2&_user=10&_coverDate=06 % 2F30 % 2F2008&_rdoc=31&_fmt=full&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info( % 23toc % 235729 % 232008 % 23999669987 % 23692017 % 23FLA % 23display % 23Volume)&_cdi=5729&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=69&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c50bba53f685ed933164bef0418a795a#bib1"">[1]; Henrique dos Santos Andrade M, Lima Aciolia M, Ginaldo da Silva Juniora J, Carlos Pereira
Silvaa J, Oliveira Vilarc E, Ton
holoa J, Preliminary investigation of some commercial alloys for
hydrogen evolution in alkaline water electrolysis. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2004;29:235–41.
bbib2"">href=""http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V3F-4SF9C4W-2&_user=10&_coverDate=06 % 2F30 % 2F2008&_rdoc=31&_fmt=full&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info( % 23toc % 235729 % 232008 % 23999669987 % 23692017 % 23FLA % 23display % 23Volume)&_cdi=5729&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=69&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c50bba53f685ed933164bef0418a795a#bib2"">[2]], to
hig
hlig
ht
how it is possi
ble to produce
hydrogen in economical ways using less advanced tec
hnologies. A conventional alkaline electrolytic cell, “la
b-electrolyser”,
has
been
built using economical material. It is composed of electrodes of 5.0 cm×5.0 cm c
haracterized
by a current density of a
bout 250 mA/cm
2 and an efficiency of a
bout 65 % at 55
b0;C; t
he cell produces a
bout 2.7 Nl/
h of
hydrogen. T
he overall cost of t
his devise
has
been compared wit
h t
he cost of t
he electrolysers availa
ble on t
he market,
hypot
hesizing a linear dependence cost wit
h t
he productive capacity. T
he conclusion
has
been t
hat t
here is a
big margin for costs decreasing even taking into account all t
he auxiliary systems for an electrolysis process.