Experimental Study of the Production of Solar Hydrogen in Algeria

Abstract

Hydrogen is a sustainable fuel option and one of the potential solutions for the current energy and  environmental problems. In this study hydrogen is produced using a hydrogen generator with a Proton  Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser. An experimental study is done in the Center of Development of the  Renewable Energy, Algiers, Algeria. The experimental device contains essentially a photovoltaic module, a  PEM electrolyser, a gasometer and the devices of measures of characteristics of the PEM electrolyser as well  as two pyranometers for the horizontal and diffuse global radiance registration. This system in pilots scale is  permitted on the one hand, to measured and analyzed the characteristics: of the PEM electrolyser for two  different pressures of working (Patm and P=3 bar), on the other hand, to study the volume of hydrogen  produces in the time with different sources of electrical power (generator, photovoltaic module, fluorescent  lamp), the efficiency for every case is calculated and compared. We present in this paper the variation of the solar hydrogen flow rate produced according to the global radiance and according to the time for a typical day’s of August.

Keywords:  PEM electrolyser, Irradiation, photovoltaic panel, efficiency.