Hydrogen is an energy carrier, analogous in many ways to electricity, but with the potential for more advantageous applications in some situations, especially in industry and transportation. Hydrogen can be used in various devices, including hydrogen engines and fuel cells.
Hydrogen does not occur naturally in large quantities or in high concentrations on our planet. Rather, it must be produced from other compounds, and finding the most advantageous ways to produce hydrogen remains a significant challenge. One important option is hydrogen production from biomass, and that is the focus here.
Due to the importance of this area, a special issue of Biofuels was devoted to Hydrogen Production from Biomass in order to discuss recent advances in the area. The special issue contains 11 papers on various topics related to hydrogen production from biomass. The special issue presents information on methods for the production of hydrogen and hydrogen-related fuels from biomass, ways of assessing such processes and uses of hydrogen produced from biomass.
As Guest Editor of this special issue of Biofuels on Hydrogen Production from Biomass, my aim was for it to help increase the potential benefits realizable from both hydrogen and biofuels for society and industry, and to provide input to researchers related to hydrogen energy and its linkages with biofuels, biomass and bioenergy.
The current contributions of biomass to hydrogen production is small relative to that from other sources. But the demand for economic and clean hydrogen is expected to increase in the future. Then, the contributions of biomass to hydrogen production are expected to increase, and this is anticipated by many to be aligned with such developments as
technical issues related to hydrogen production from biomass being resolved,
efficiencies of such processes increasing,
costs of hydrogen from biomass declining,
environmental issues such as climate change becoming of greater concern, and
fossil fuel prices increasing due to limited reserves, environmental pressures and other factors.
Some of the articles in the special issue focus on processes for the production of hydrogen from various waste that are classified as biomass. For example, hydrogen production from biodiesel industry waste using a co-culture of Enterobacter aerogenes and Clostridium butyricum is described. Also reported are investigations on biohydrogen production from brewery effluent in a batch and continuous reactor with anaerobic mixed microbial consortia, and the effect of operational parameters on biohydrogen production from dairy wastewater in batch and continuous reactors.
Some articles in the special issue focus on the effective utilization of hydrogen produced from biomass sources. For instance, one article reports on the effect of spark timing on the performance of a spark ignition engine running on biogas–hydrogen blends, while another describes an experimental investigation of the effect of simultaneous nitrogen and hydrogen addition and exhaust gas recirculation in a biodiesel operated combustion-ignition engine.
Finally, some of the articles in the special issue are of a more general nature, including one that discusses bio-oil as the future of hydrogen generation and another that provides a review of hydrogen production using coal, biomass and other solid fuels.
It is greatly hoped that the special issue will help describe and resolve challenges that biomass and hydrogen energy face, in part by exchanging information and fostering productive debate. Through such activity, it is anticipated that the special issue will enhance the present and future prospects for both biomass and hydrogen energy.