Hydrogen Recovery from Wastewater by an Electrochemical Process: Feasibility Study

Sustainable hydrogen production processes based on the recovery of waste products such as wastewater have received considerable attention from the scientific and industrial communities. Wastewater is considered a promising source of hydrogen due to several advantages, including its abundance, accessibility, and low cost. These innovative processes offer the dual benefit of sustainable hydrogen production and effective wastewater treatment. In this context, this work focused on a promising electrochemical approach for waste removal and hydrogen gas recovery from refinery wastewater, namely electrocoagulation. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of producing hydrogen gas from refinery wastewater by a batch electrocoagulation system using metal electrodes. The effects of current density and electrolysis time were studied to estimate the volume of gas produced and COD removal. The results showed that the volume of gas produced and COD removal efficiency could be more than 400 mL and 55%, respectively, when the current density was 200
$\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{m}^{2}$
within 35 min. Thus, electrocoagulation was shown to be a promising process for the simultaneous production of hydrogen gas and wastewater treatment.