Effect of alkaline water level and electrode surface area on the hydrogen production rate as renewable energy source using electrolysis system

The main aim of this study is to increase the rate of hydrogen production from water by electrolysis as renewable source of energy. To achieve that, a simplified unit of water electrolysis was developed and evaluated. Five types of water (0, 2, 6, 10 and 14%wt KOH) were used, three Surface area of the electrodes namely (200,300 and 400 cm2) and number of stainless steel in unit (9, 11 and 13) slice were also investigated. The obtained results indicate that, the accumulated produced energy of water increases with increasing the numbers of stainless steel and operating time. The results also indicate that, the accumulated produced energy of water increases with increasing potassium hydroxide concentration until it reached the peak with 10%wt KOH potassium hydroxide concentration and then decreased during the experimental period. The highest value of the accumulated produced energy of water (448.73 kW h) was found with the 10%wt KOH potassium hydroxide concentration after 150 min for 300 cm2 of surface area of the electrodes. The lowest value of the accumulated produced energy of water (51.45 kW h) was found with the 0%wt KOH potassium hydroxide concentration after 210 min for 400 cm2 of surface area of the electrodes. The highest value of the operating time required to analyze one liter of water to produce hydrogen (240 min) was found with the 0%wt KOH potassium hydroxide concentration for 200 cm2 of the surface area of the electrodes.