Traditional Routes for Hydrogen Production and Carbon Conversion

There are many routes to produce hydrogen. Traditionally, hydrogen can be produced through electro-, bio-, and thermo-chemical routes. Biochemical routes involve routes such as biophotolysis, fermentation, or through biological metabolic pathways. Electrochemical production methods of hydrogen mainly involve water electrolysis (the splitting of water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen). The thermochemical production of hydrogen is achieved though reforming, pyrolysis, and gasification reactions of biomass and fossil fuels (carbonaceous fuels). This chapter gives an overview of the methods of hydrogen production through these main routes, as well as providing novel methods that are not yet widely used.