Producción de hidrógeno mediante ciclos termoquímicos basados en óxidos metálicos

Abstract

Total energy consumption grows every year, and more than 80 % of the total energy demand is still cover by fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. This dependence has important economic and environmental implications. From an economic point of view, it is noteworthy that the production is located in certain areas of the world which results in volatile and high prices governed by political factors. In addition, due to the absence of other viable alternatives, the depletion of oil reserves will result in a progressive rise of the prices that will change the overall economic development. On the environmental side, the combustion of the fossil fuels is the main cause of the greenhouse gases emissions (CO2), responsible for the global warming effect to our planet.1 These problems make the situation unsustainable in the medium term, so they have motivated the research of other alternatives and energy sources. Among the different possibilities, hydrogen has been proposed for decades as a very promising energy carrier for a future low carbon energy economy2. Nowadays, there are many different ways to obtain hydrogen, but most of them do not release the world form the fossil fuel dependence3. In addition, those systems require a carbon sequestration to purify the obtained hydrogen, so it is evident that a massive use of hydrogen is reasonable only if renewable energy sources are used for its production, although current renewable energy-based hydrogen production methods are expensive and underdeveloped.