International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:02

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Review on Hydrogen Production Technologies in Malaysia

Z. Khan, S. Yusup, M.M. Ahmad, V.S. Chok, Y. Uemura, K. M. Sabil
Abstract- Hydrogen has wide applications in petroleum, chemical synthesis and has been successfully demonstrated as a potentially zero emission fuel for transportations. As a country that is rich with natural resources and with the aims to be a developed country in 2020, Malaysia is currently intensified its renewable energy activities. The present work reviews all the resources and technologies related to hydrogen production in Malaysia. These technologies include non-renewable e.g. steam methane reforming (SMR) and renewable resources related to biomass processes e.g. gasification, pyrolysis, supercritical water gasification, biological water gas shift reaction, fermentation and water electrolysis e.g. using solar and wind energy. The techno-economic review is then presented for all these technologies to highlight the potential of present and future hydrogen production technologies in Malaysia.
Keywords-Review, hydrogen hydrogen production in Malaysia production technologies,

I.

INTRODUCTION

YDROGEN economy has been promoted due to large number of hydrogen applications in petroleum and chemical sectors such as upgrading crude oil and synthesizing of methanol and ammonia. Besides this, hydrogen has been upgraded as an alternative to fossil fuel products due to its environmental friendly, high energy capacity and potentially gives high efficient processes such as in fuel cell application. Currently, about 98% of hydrogen comes from fossil fuel [1]. However, fast depleting rate and Manuscript received March 10, 2010. This work is supported by Petroleum Research Fund of PETRONAS. Zakir Khan is a PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh 31750, Perak, Malaysia ( e-mail: khan.zakir@gmail.com). Suzana Yusup is working as a Associate Professer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh 31750, Perak, Malaysia (Ph:+605-3687642, fax: +6053656176, (e-mail: drsuzana_yusuf@petronas.com.my). Murni Melati Ahmad is working as a Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh 31750, Perak, Malaysia (e-mail: murnim@petronas.com.my). Vui Soon Chok is working as a Research Officer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh 31750, Perak, Malaysia (e-mail: chokvuisoon@yahoo.com.sg) Yoshimitsu Uemura is working as Professor, Mitsubishi Chair in Green Technology, in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh 31750, Perak, Malaysia (e-mail yoshimitsu_uemura@petronas.com.my) Khalik Muhamad Sabil is working as a Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh 31750, Perak, Malaysia (e-mail: khalik_msabil@petronas.com.my)

other competing usage of fossil fuels has becoming a serious concern and the search for alternative feedstock for hydrogen production has been intensified. Hydrogen as an energy carriers comprised numerous advantages over other conventional energy carriers. Hydrogen combustion provides energy based on mass basis with lower heating value (LHV), which is 2.4, 2.8 and 4 times more than that of methane, gasoline and coal respectively [2]. In addition, it is a clean fuel as the combustion of hydrogen produced only water as by-product. Malaysia is a country of vast renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy. The country energy demand mainly depended on non-renewable sources comprising of oil and gas. Up to 2005, non-renewable sources contributed about 87.9% of country energy demand while renewable sources shared 12.1% [3]. Due to fast growing economy, it is expected that the country energy demand will go up to 18000 MW by the year 2010 [4]. Moreover, unwanted green house gases emission and other serious environmental issues associated with the transportation sector have become a great concern to the future of the country development. As part of the UN Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol, Malaysia has to take steps to reduce green house gases emissions. More recently, in Copenhagen Climate Change Summit 2009, Malaysian Prime Minister has showed commitment to reduce carbon emission. The Prime Minister has also announced RM 1.5 billion in the 2010 national budget for green technology development in the country [5]. In the present scenario, the country needs to have abundant clean energy to maintain its journey towards a developed country. The present work provides a brief summary of current and developing technologies available for the hydrogen production in Malaysia. The hydrogen production technologies are divided into two categories: non-renewable (fossil fuel) and renewable resources. Non-renewable hydrogen production technologies includes SMR while renewable hydrogen production technologies related to biomass utilization including gasification, pyrolysis, supercritical water gasification, biological water gas shift reaction, biological fermentation and hydrogen production from water, which includes electrolysis using solar and wind energy. The techno-economical comparison of available technologies is then made to evaluate the processes that can be used for future hydrogen production.

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:02 II.

HYDROGEN FROM FOSSIL FUEL

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Malaysia has vast fossil fuel resources in the form of natural gas, oil and limited amount of coal. Malaysia is one of the main producers of natural gas in Asia producing 1000 cubic feet per day [4]. Therefore, in the current scenario, hydrogen is mainly produced from steam methane reforming using natural gas as a feedstock. Although limited, Malaysia has estimated coal reserves of 1712 million tons ranging from lignite to anthracite [4]. But in spite of that, Malaysia imports 90% of its coal from Australia, China, Indonesia and South Africa [4]. This is due to high extraction cost of local coal as most of these reserves are situated in rural areas where no infrastructure is developed so far. Due to this, coal gasification for hydrogen production is not a viable option to be developed in Malaysia and therefore, will not be further discussed in the present work. The present section only considers SMR for hydrogen production. A. SMR SMR is well established and widely used process for hydrogen production. Currently, almost 48% of world wide hydrogen is produced from this method [6]. So far, this process is the most economical commercially available method for hydrogen production [7]. SMR mainly consists of two steps. In the first step, methane reforming takes place in the presence of catalyst at elevated temperature and pressure of 500-900C and 30 atm respectively [8]. Commercially, Ni is widely used as catalyst [8]. The methane reforming is an endothermic reaction [9]. CH4 + H2O <=> CO+ 3H2 H= + 206 kJ/mol

In second step, CO then reacts with steam to produce H2 and CO2 in water gas shift reaction (WGSR). CO + H2O <=> CO2+ H2 H= - 102 kJ/mol

WGSR is an exothermic reaction and takes place at lower temperature as compared to SMR due to its equilibrium limitation. In current commercial practice, this reaction occurs in two stages. First stage known as high shift reactor, which utilizes usually iron based catalyst at a temperature of 350C where second stage occurs at 205C using copper based catalyst and known as low shift reactor [8]. The final step is a purification step using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) to remove traces of CO, CO2, CH4, H2O and N2 producing almost 99.99% pure hydrogen [8]. Typically, hydrogen contributes to 70-75 mol% (dry basis) in product gas [10]. Currently, SMR process is the main process to produce industrial grade hydrogen in Malaysia. The hydrogen produce are mainly used for chemical synthesis or upgrading of crude oil quality. Beside these applications, Malaysia is targeting hydrogen as future fuel for transportation sector based on fuel cell technology. The initiation is already taken in the form of Fuel Cell Institutes (FCI) at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and

University Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). These research institutes are actively involved in autothermal catalytic reforming of methane and methanol to enhance hydrogen production. In addition, research work on hydrogen storage by nanostructure carbon is also in progress to meet future hydrogen storage demand. The intensive researches have been carried out on fuel cell development and can be found elsewhere in detail [11]-[24]. Several works have been carried out on SMR and steam methanol reforming for hydrogen production in Malaysia. Zein et al. [25] had investigated the performance of 20 mol% NiO/TiO2 based catalyst doped with different transition metals for hydrogen production by SMR process. They found that 15 mol% MnOx with 20 mol% NiO/TiO2 was remained active at 725C with a GHSV (Gas hourly space velocity) of 2700/h for more than 3 hr and a hydrogen composition of 48% in the product. Lwin et al. [26] had presented thermodynamic equilibrium model for steam methanol reforming to optimize theoretical hydrogen yield at 1atm, 87-300C and steam/methanol (S/M) ratio of 0-1.5. They showed optimum hydrogen yield of 2.97 mol/molmethanol at 127C, 1 atm and S/M ratio of 1.5 without carbon and methane formation in the process. Based on the findings, they proposed that the H2 yield cannot be raised above its theoretical limit of 3 mol/mol-methanol due to the presence of higher amount of unreacted H2O. Yaakob et al. [27] studied the effect of Cu-Zn-Al catalyst with vanadium, zinc and copper for hydrogen production in autothermal steam reforming methanol (ATRM) at 200-300C. They showed catalyst containing vanadium (Cu-Zn-Al-V) has shown higher activity as compare to zinc and copper at lower temperature of 200C. Moreover, they showed that 100% methanol conversion and hydrogen composition of 70 mol% were achieved at 250C. They also found that temperature higher than 300C gave low catalyst performance for all combinations due to CO presence which deactivates the Cu and CuO. Yaakob et al. [28] presented the effect of Ni-Mo-Cu/-alumina trimetallic catalyst with different compositions in methanol steam reforming for hydrogen production. From their findings, it is shown that composition of 7 wt% Cu, 0.2 wt% Mo and 0.2 wt% Ni gave the maximum hydrogen composition of more than 90 wt% at 275C and 3 atm. Yaakob et al. [29] investigated the multi compositions Cu-Zn-Al catalyst system supported on aluminosilicate zeolite (ZSM-5) for steam methanol reforming and ATRM. They found that Cu4Zn7Al2/ZSM-5 catalyst showed high H2 composition of 76.88 mol% and CO concentration of 0.77 mol% at 300C while Cu6Zn7Al2/ZSM-5 gave 73.09 mol% H2 and CO composition of 0.12 mol% for steam methanol reforming at 300C. III.
HYDROGEN FROM RENEWABLE RESOURCES

Malaysia has revised its energy policy from fourth-fuel to fifth-fuel under 8th Malaysian plan (2001-2005) in 1999. Renewable energy is considered the fifth fuel in the energy mix. In 2003, only biomass from renewable sources

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:02 contributed 1.1% in energy mix. It was expected that about 5% of countrys electricity would be generated from renewable sources by 2005 [4]. Moreover, according to the 9th Malaysian Plan (2006-2010), renewable energy will be expected to contribute 300 MW in fuel mixture by 2010 [30]. Biomass is one of most promising source among renewable resources to produce abundant, clean and renewable hydrogen. As a tropical country involving in agricultural sectors, Malaysia has a variety of biomass residues produced from oil palm, rice, sugarcane, wood industry and municipal solid waste as shown in Fig.1. Being a second largest producer and exporter of oil palm in 2006, Malaysias oil palm industry produced huge amount of biomass wastes that contribute about 85.5% of total biomass available in the country [31].

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solar and wind energy can also be considered as a method for renewable hydrogen production. In the next section, some of these technologies are briefly described. Biomass Gasification Gasification is thermochemical conversion of solid biomass into gaseous product mainly consist of H2, CO, CO2, CH4 and N2 by using air, oxygen and steam or in combination as a gasifying medium. Air as gasifying medium contains N2, which dilute the product gas. Pure oxygen is considered expensive for an operation at small scale [33]-[34]. Steam as sole gasification agent is taking over due to numerous advantages over air or pure oxygen, which includes high hydrogen yield [33]-[35], ability to avoid product gas dilution due to N2 and can easily be separated from product gas by condensation. The operating condition usually varies from 800-900C [1]. Biomass gasification process can be performed in fixed bed or fluidized bed reactor where the latter gives better performance in terms of high carbon conversion [36]. Problems associated with quality of gas due to tar and char impurities are the main challenges in the process. A secondary reactor for tar cracking is often used to get better purity of hydrogen at the end. Dolomite or Ni catalyst is used for product gas treatment at the downstream reactor [37]. Several other attempts are being carried out to reduce tar content in product gas [38]-[45]. Recently, introduction of CO2 absorption in the process makes it more viable for commercial application. The presence of CO2 absorbent accelerates all the parallel reforming and gasification reaction towards H2 production [46]. Furthermore, CO2 absorption process is an exothermic reaction provides heat for endothermic gasification reactions and reduce overall energy requirement for the process in the gasifier [46]-[47]. Addition of CO2 absorbent makes possible for gasification process to take place at temperature <800C [46]-[52]. The typical hydrogen composition of 40 vol% (dry basis) is achieved, which can be increased up to 75 vol% (dry basis) in the presence of CO2 absorbent [51]. Very few works have been reported on hydrogen production from biomass gasification in Malaysia. Zainal et al. [53] used equilibrium modeling approach for biomass gasification to predict performance of downdraft gasifier using wood, paddy husk, paper and municipal waste properties. They found that the hydrogen composition in fuel gas for paper, paddy husk, wood and municipal waste at 800C was 27, 25, 20 and 18 wt% respectively. Based on the modeling approach, they predicted that hydrogen composition in fuel gas increases from 20 to 25% with increasing moisture content from 0 to 40% for wood at 800C. Chok et al. [54] studied the palm shell gasification in pilot scale compartmental fluidized bed gasifier (CFBG) at 600-700C and 1atm pressure. Their findings showed that the produce gas contained 15-18 vol% H2, 25-38 vol% CO and 9-10 vol% CH4. Ghani et al. [55] conducted experiments in lab scale fluidized bed reactor for hydrogen production using coconut shell (CS) and palm kernel shell (PKS) as agriculture waste. They studied the effects of A.

Fig. 1. Different biomass produced in Malaysia [31]

Biomass wastes produced from oil palm is derived from its plantation area (e.g. trunk and fronds) and mill operation (e.g. empty fruit bunch (EFB), mesocarp fibers, and palm kernel shell). In 2008, total biomass wastes of 198.5 million tons were produced according to the distribution as shown in the Fig.2. It is noted that unlike other oil palm biomass wastes, oil palm trunk is obtained only in the time of replantation of oil palm trees.

Fig. 2. Different types of biomass produced from oil palm in Malaysia [32]

With the vast amount of biomass available in the country, the possibilities of hydrogen production from these sources are tremendous. Renewable hydrogen production technologies include thermochemical and biological conversion of biomass such as gasification, pyrolysis, supercritical water gasification, biological water gas shift reaction and fermentation. In addition, electrolysis using

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:02 temperature, fluidization ratio (superficial gas velocity/minimum fluidization velocity), static bed height and equivalence ratio (ER) on gas composition. They reported maximum hydrogen composition of 67 and 66 mol% (dry inert-gas) for CS and PKS at a temperature of 900C and 700C respectively. Based on their work, fluidization ratio and static bed height had minor effects on gas compositions. Maximum hydrogen proportion of 66 and 82 mol% were reported in the product gas at ER of 0.15. B. Biomass Pyrolysis Pyrolysis is thermal decomposition of biomass into liquid oil, solid charcoal, and gaseous products in the absence of air/oxygen at temperature range of 350-525C and pressure of 1-5 atm [56]. Pyrolysis is an endothermic reaction [1]. Biomass + Heat => H2+CO+ CO2+ solid + liquid (bio-oil) Most pyrolysis processes are designed to produce biofuel. Hydrogen can be produced directly from fast or flash pyrolysis at high temperature, high heating rate and longer residence time of gaseous phase in the reactor [57]. The catalyst application in pyrolysis is helpful to enhance product yield and to improve product gas quality. Ni et al. [56] reported catalysts such as inorganic salts: chlorides, carbonates and chromates have the ability to enhance pyrolysis reaction rate. Some metal oxides such as Ni-based [58], K2CO3 and Na2CO3 are also exhibited some catalytic effect on pyrolysis [59]. Yang et al. [58] reported hydrogen composition of 38.45 vol% (dry N2 free basis) from pyrolysis of oil palm shell at 900C using La (Lanthanide)/Al2O3 as a catalyst. Chen et al. [60] produced 49.5 wt% of hydrogen in product gas at a temperature of 850C using rice straw in the presence of Cr2O3 catalyst. In Malaysia, pyrolysis process is widely used for bio-oil production to generate biofuel based on oil palm wastes. In 2005, first pyrolysis plant for bio-oil production using empty fruit bunch (EFB) has been completed in Malaysia with cooperation of Malaysian based Genting Sanyen Bhd and BTG Biomass Technology Group BV [61]. Supercritical Water Biomass Gasification (SWBG) SWBG is relatively new technology for biomass gasification. SWBG is preferably used when biomass contains moisture more than 50 wt% that contributes to high cost of moisture removal in conventional gasification process [3]. The liquid and gas phase have alike properties when water is treated at or higher than its critical point (temperature higher than 374C, pressure 220 atm). The gaseous product comprised of H2, CO, CO2 and CH4. This approach gives gasification conversion of almost 100% and hydrogen composition up to 50 vol% in the product gas [56]. Kelly-Yong et al. [3] calculated theoretical amount of hydrogen of 2.161010 kgH2/yr produced from 184.6 million tons of worldwide oil palm wastes (PKS, EFB, mesocarp fibers, fronds and trunks) via SWBG fulfilling almost 50% C.

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of world hydrogen demand. Based on this calculation, they further proposed the possibility of implementing SWBG in Malaysia by using oil palm wastes. Currently, hydrogen production from SWBG is still in developing stage in Malaysia although it could be an effective technique from hydrogen production. Therefore, active research should be undertaken to develop and detailing the process as well as to find out other possible types of biomass that can be used to produce hydrogen through SWBG. Biomass based Biological Water Gas Shift Reaction (BWGSR) BWGSR is relatively new technology for bio-hydrogen production. Some photo-heterotrophic bacteria are capable of performing CO oxidation into H2 and CO2 in the dark at ambient temperature and pressure [1]. These bacterial takes CO as single carbon source and generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which couple with CO oxidation with reduction of H+ to H2. As reaction occurs at ambient conditions, thermodynamic favors forward reaction to produce H2 [62]. Several research works on BWGSR has been reported in Malaysia. Najafpour et al. [63] investigated BWGSR for hydrogen production using photosynthetic anaerobic bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum (R. rubrum) in continuous stirred tank bio-reactor (CSTR). They had shown that hydrogen production rate of 16 mmol/g-cell.h with composition of 80 mol% was achievable with an inlet gas flow rate of 14 ml/min in a continuous operation mode. Najafpour et al. [64] studied the effects of different concentration of acetate (organic substrate) on hydrogen production using R. rubrum. They found that an acetate concentration of 1.5 g/l gave high hydrogen yield of 2.3 mmol/mol-CO with composition of 98 mol% in the produced gas. They also presented the kinetic study using Monod and Andrews models and found that the data were well fitted with those models. Ismail et al. [65] used photosynthetic anaerobic bacterium R. rubrum to study the effects of agitation rate and volumetric gas flow rate on mass transfer coefficients (KL) and hydrogen production in CSTR. Based on their findings, they reported that at an optimum agitation rate of 500 rpm, they can produce 9.6 mmol H2/h with KL value of 86.4+3.5/h at 0.44+0.023 atm. They also showed that the assistance of microsparger enhanced the hydrogen production as compared to normal sparger at the tested conditions. Biomass Fermentation Fermentation by microorganisms can be divided into dark fermentation (anaerobic) and photoheterotrophic (photofermentation). Photo-fermentation used non sulphur bacteria under nitrogen environment in the presence of nitrogenase catalyst and solar energy. The final product mainly consists of H2 and CO2 [1]. Dark fermentation uses carbohydrates rich biomass waste in the presence of anaerobic bacteria in the dark. The final product mainly consists of H2 and CO2 along with lesser amount of CO, CH4 and H2S [66]. Dark E. D.

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:02 fermentation does not require energy and hence more attractive to be used in commercial scale. Important variables that affect the hydrogen production are pH value, H2 partial pressure and hydraulic retention time (HRT). The optimal pH value of 5-6 is reported for maximum hydrogen yield [67]. An optimum hydrogen yield of 14 mmol/gcarbohydrate at HRT of 0.5 day is reported using industrial waste water [68]. In Malaysia, several research works have been done for hydrogen production via fermentation. Sabaratnam et al. [69] used oil palm mill effluent (POME) in the presence of mix microflora population to produce hydrogen. They reported 1% hydrogen concentration in 50 ml of gas at temperature of 37C and initial pH value of 7.0. No traces of CH4 in product gas were found. Atif et al. [70] investigated hydrogen production using POME in the presence of microflora at 60C and pH value of 5.5. They reported the maximum hydrogen yield of 4708 mlH2/L-POME and evaluation rate of 454 mlH2/L-POME-h. No CH4 is found in the evolved gas. Alshiyab et al. [71] showed the effect of salt addition to fermentation medium on hydrogen production using glucose as substrate at 30C and an initial pH of 7.0. They showed that hydrogen productivity dropped from 77.5 ml/L/h without NaCl to 63.5 ml/L/h for 5g/L of NaCl while values dropped from 72.5 ml/L/h without NaCH3COOH to 66.5 ml/L/h for 3 g/L of NaCH3COOH. Alshiyab et al. [72] studied the effect of CO2 removal from the product gas on hydrogen yield using Clostridium acteobutylicum NCIMB 13357 in Reinforced Clostridia Medium (RCM). They concluded the increase of hydrogen yield from 408 mlH2/g-glucose to 422 mlH2/g-glucose using 30% KOH as CO2 scavenging at 30C and an initial pH of 7.0. The CO2 concentration reduced from 185 ml/g-glucose to 80 ml/g-glucose. Alalayah et al. [73] studied the effect of initial substrate concentration, initial pH value and temperature on hydrogen production using Clostridium Saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4(ATCC 13564). They reported maximum hydrogen of 3.10 mol/mol-glucose at an initial glucose concentration of 10 g/L, initial pH value of 6.0+0.2 and temperature of 37C. Kalil et al. [74] showed the RCM improvement using anaerobic bacterium Cacetobutylicum NCIMB13357 to enhance hydrogen productivity. They showed that maximum hydrogen yield of 308 ml/g-glucose is obtained, using 13 g/L-yeast extract as nitrogen source with maximum biomass concentration of 1.1 g/L. Initial pH value of 7.0 and temperature of 30C were used. Chong et al. [75] studied the hydrogen production by Clostridium butyricum EB6 in POME sludge at different pH values. They presented the maximum hydrogen production rate of 3195 mlH2/L-medium at pH 5.5 and 37C with no iron supplement. They also concluded that Clostridium butyricum EB6 produced more hydrogen as compared to medium supplemented with 4 g/L-yeast extract, which corresponds to 198 mlH2/L-medium at the same conditions. Ismail et al. [76] investigated the possibility of using POME as a substrate by anaerobic digested sludge under thermophilic condition for hydrogen production. They concluded the average hydrogen production of 2.64

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m3/m3/day at 55C and HRT of 4 days. Hydrogen contributed to 52 mol% in product gas with no CH4 detected. Water Electrolysis sing Solar and Wind Energy Electrolysis is a process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrical current. Different sources of energy like solar and wind can be utilized to produce electrical current to split water. Malaysia is keen to utilize renewable sources for hydrogen production to develop sophisticated hydrogen technologies such as fuel cell. As an initiative, Malaysian Government has assigned Pusat Tenaga Malaysia to lead a project entitled Roadmap for Solar, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research and Development Directions and Markets in Malaysia. The aim of the project is to look for any possible source of energy to fulfill the increasing demand of energy [77]. Solar energy is one of the most promising sources to generate electrical current for electrolysis to produce hydrogen. Malaysia receives a massive amount of solar energy i.e. 4-5 kWh/m2-day due to its location near to the equator [78]. Moreover, it is reported that total solar energy received per year by Malaysia is almost sixteen times the country annual energy demand [79]. Bashi et al. [78] studied the feasibility of photovoltaic (PV) electrolysis for hydrogen production using solar energy. They used two different electrolytes, water and NaOH (aq. solution) and concluded that 0.1 mol NaOH is better choice for high hydrogen production. A solar eco-house for hydrogen production is established by Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), UKM. The system is the first of its nature in Malaysia funded by Intensification of Research in Priority Areas (IRPA), Malaysia. The house is an ordinary residence that uses hydrogen as fuel. Hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis using solar energy with the help of photovoltaic cell. The system contains 40 multi-crystal photovoltaic panels with maximum production capacity of 5 kW [77]. In addition, fuel cell of 1 kW capacity is also available to operate electrical equipments in day-off time. Currently, an integrated PV-wind hydrogen production system is constructed at Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. This project is a joint venture between UKM and UMT. The system has capacity of 1 kW each for PV and wind turbine system. The system produced 130-140 ml/min of hydrogen at 200-800 W/m2 of solar radiation and 2.0-5.0 m/s of wind speed [80]. IV. TECHNO-ECONOMICAL REVIEW ON HYDROGEN
PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

F.

Although it is undeniable that SMR is still the most feasible commercial process for hydrogen production, the consequences of limited amount of fossil fuel reserves all over the world emphasizes on finding alternative sources for hydrogen production. Recently, many studies have been carried out for hydrogen production from renewable resources. So far, an assessment of hydrogen production

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:02 technologies considered biomass gasification is the most economical process for hydrogen production [81]. But in the same scenario, some studies show that biomass gasification process is economically unfeasible as compare to SMR except for low cost biomass availability. Pyrolysis is considered more attractive for hydrogen production due to its additional valuable products in the process. SWBG is an attractive option for clean hydrogen production. The process has very little impurities like tar and char in hydrogen rich gas mixture [56]. Some studies such as Kelly-Yong et al. [3] strongly recommended this process as the best option for hydrogen production in Malaysia using oil palm wastes as main biomass feedstock. This study reported that the produced hydrogen price of 3-7 US$/GJ, which is reasonable as compared to 5-8 US$/GJ [82] for SMR. Hydrogen from biological process has gained interest in the last few years in Malaysia. Processes especially dark fermentation that takes place at ambient temperature and pressure is being targeted for future hydrogen production. In addition, primarily researches show great potential using POME as feedstock in dark fermentation which contains high cellulose and lignocelluloses material [75]. In Malaysia, oil palm industry annually produced 52.8 million tons of POME [83] that can be utilized for hydrogen production through fermentation. Hydrogen from water electrolysis using solar and wind energy is another potentially strong alternative due to Malaysia location on the globe. But the hydrogen cost is high due to low process efficiency and high cost of electricity produced from photovoltaic cell. The electricity generated by photovoltaic cell is almost twenty times costly as compared to electricity generated by conventional processes [84]. Research and development are focused on this system by reducing its components cost and increasing system efficiency [85], [86]. Table 1 compares hydrogen production price for different biomass technologies.
Table 1 Hydrogen production technologies comparison Technology Overall H2 cost References efficiency (%) (US$/GJ) SMR 65-75a 5-8 [82] Biomass 42.5-46.5a 9-13 [82] Gasification Biomass 47.9b 9-13 [82] Pyrolysis 3 [3] SWBG 72.91c 46.54d BWGSR N/A 14.6 [87] Biomass 60-80e N/A [88], [89] Fermentation a Efficiency based on LHV b Efficiency based on higher heating value (HHV) c Theoretical efficiency using oil palm based on process heat recovery d Theoretical efficiency using oil palm based on without process heat recovery e Maximum theoretical yield of 4 molH2 /mol-glucose metabolized N/A: Data not available

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V.

CONCLUSION

The Malaysia hydrogen economy is still depended heavily on fossil fuel such as natural gas, which is finite and gradually depleting. There is a lot of research being pursued in the development of hydrogen production system in Malaysia. In this work, biomass has been shown to be promising replacements for the existing fossil fuel in terms of price and environmental issues. It is also been discussed that most of these processes are still in developing stage. Based on the current scenario, it is projected that the replacement of fossil fuels with biomass for hydrogen production will occur gradually. Biomass gasification, dark fermentation and SWBG are some of the potential processes to be further developed for hydrogen production from biomass, especially oil palm waste, in Malaysia. REFERENCES
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Zakir Khan was born in February 04, 1978 at Karak, Pakistan. He received his Master of Science in Chemical Engineering in 2005 from Friedrich-Alexander-Universitt (FAU) ErlangenNrnberg, Erlangen, Bayern, Germany. He did his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 2001 from N.W.F.P University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, N.W.F.P, Pakistan. From 2006-2009, he served as Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Lahore, Pakistan. Currently, he is on study leave to pursue his PhD in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University Technology PETRONAS, Malaysia. Mr. Zakir Khan is a member of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).

3.