Necessary Materials for Hydrogen Production from Solar in MENA Region

In the Kingdom Saudi Arabia, the domestic oil consumption has recently been increasing rapidly due to the population as well as economic growths. Since the largest sector of the oil consumption is transportation, especially personal mobility, an alternative energy source for passenger cars has to be considered to mitigate the increase in domestic oil consumption. As LNG is difficult to use for passenger cars and LPG is produced from oil, it is necessary to consider the introduction of the battery electric vehicles (BEV) and/or fuel cell vehicles (FCV), for which hydrogen produced by renewable energy sources could be used. As BEV does not suit the pattern of car use in Saudi Arabia well due to the short range and the long charging time for the battery, FCV will be the most appropriate substitution for the internal combustion engine passenger cars in Saudi Arabia. Considering that there is abundant direct normal irradiance (DNI) in Saudi Arabia, hydrogen production by the combination of CPV and electrolyzer has been considered. The amount of necessary rare materials for hydrogen production by electrolyzers equipped with polymer electrolyte electrochemical cells and the CPV with chemical compound type multi junction photovoltaic cells has been analyzed. A simulation model of hydrogen production cost has been developed in order to specify the optimal production and domestic transportation system of hydrogen for each city in Saudi Arabia among several station types, production systems, and transportation methods. It is found the optimal production and transportation system of hydrogen under the present limitation of hydrogen station size is to produce hydrogen in the area with the highest DNI in Saudi Arabia and transport it in a liquid state with a special tank lorries. It is also found that considerably large amount of precious and rare metals such as platinum or ruthenium will be necessary to substitute the gasoline consumed in the transportation sector with the hydrogen produced by the solar power.