Hydrogen

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Hydrogen

Hydrogen is defined in the 1984 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia as “a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas, and on of the most important elements”. Henry Cavendish, of London, England, found this to be true in 1766 when he discovered the ninth most abundant element in the earth’s crust, Hydrogen. Although scientists believe that hydrogen came into being within seconds of the “big bang”, Cavendish determined after years of studying it’s properties that it was a separate substance and he became the first chemist to produce water from oxygen and hydrogen.

Hydrogen, represented by the chemical symbol “H” is a gaseous element. It is in the first row, and first column of the periodic table. It weighs in at a molecular weight of 1.00794. Normally, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that can only slightly dissolve in water. Hydrogen has a melting point of –259.14°C and a boiling point of –252.87°.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Hydrogen can be produced in many different ways using different processes. Including:
Natural Gas Steam Reforming
The production of hydrogen from natural gas is an integral part of the strategy to introduce hydrogen into the transportation and utility energy sectors, by reducing the cost of conventional and developing innovative hydrogen production processes that rely on cheap fossil feedstocks. Today, nearly all hydrogen production is based on fossil raw materials. Worldwide, 48% of hydrogen is produced from natural gas, 30% from oil (mostly consumed in refineries), 18% from coal, and the remaining (4%) via water electrolysis.
Modification of the conventional steam methane reforming (SMR) process to incorporate an adsorbent in the reformer to remove CO2 from the product stream may offer a number of advantages over conventional processes. Upsetting the reaction equilibrium in this way drives the reaction to produce additional hy...