It's possible to produce hydrogen gas using many different methods and raw materials to the extent that it has potential to be the most flexible and abundant resource for creating fuel on the earth. Producing hydrogen gas in a typical factory environment starts with raw materials including algae, natural gas, water, coal, and biomass, which is made up of naturally organic composting materials.



Producing hydrogen gas from raw materials such as coal or biomass is called gasification, which requires heating the raw materials at a variety of extremely high temperatures, followed by a cooling, separation and purification process. The resulting hydrogen gas can then be used for any traditional fuel needs, or used as fuel to generate electricity. Coal gasification, when used to produce hydrogen gas as a fuel for generating electricity, produces much lower emissions than the traditional coal fueled power plant.

The least polluting and environmentally clean way to produce hydrogen gas involves extracting it from water. Several different methods are used to accomplish this, but electrolysis is the best method. Electrolysis produces hydrogen gas from water by using electric current to separate out the hydrogen from oxygen. The by-products of such a process are hydrogen and oxygen gas. The electricity used to power the method can be derived from renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind generators. Geothermal or hydro power can also provide the initial energy source. Nuclear-generated power may also be used for the electrolysis method.

The Thermochemical Water Splitting method of producing hydrogen gas separates hydrogen from water using a chemical reaction between water and certain chemicals at high temperatures. This is primary accomplished at nuclear plants. High-temperature Electrolysis is the same basic concept as fueled by electricity except this method uses the heat generated by nuclear power production to bring the water to the correct temperature instead of electrical current.

Steam Methane Reformation is currently the most used method for producing hydrogen gas from natural gas. A two-step process, the first step of this method creates steam and synthesis gas from the natural gas. Step two separates the hydrogen from this synthesis gas. This method produces more pollution than electrolysis, but is the method currently used for 95% of all hydrogen production in the United States.

By using a technique called Photo-Biological Production, hydrogen can be extracted from algae or bacteria contained in wastewater. In this method, the algae are kept from access to sulfur. This results in their emitting hydrogen instead of oxygen. This method uses waste and renewable materials as its feedstock, and is thus attracting a great deal of attention as being the "greenest" method.

When compared to fossil fuel production, producing hydrogen gas clearly provides numerous benefits going forward. The apparent abundance of hydrogen gives it a real future whereas fossil fuels have a very limited time line. No matter the exact production method used, plentiful sources of hydrogen make it clearly the fuel of the future. And it seems only a matter of time that new appliances and applications start to be produced to take advantage of this new fuel.