Abstract

This thesis evaluates clean hydrogen production pathways suitable for the United Arab Emirates by  integrating nuclear, solar, and wind energy with proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEM), anion  exchange membrane electrolysis with a liquid alkaline separator (AEM), and alkaline water electrolysis  (AWE). A literature review was first conducted to compare hydrogen production technologies based on  efficiency, cost, scalability, environmental performance, and compatibility with UAE energy resources.  Energy and exergy models were then developed for the APR1400 steam Rankine cycle, the Mohammed bin  Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the Sir Bani Yas wind farm, and the three electrolysis technologies.  The APR1400 Rankine-cycle mass-flow-rate model showed strong agreement with manufacturer data, with a  maximum deviation of 2.12%. The calculated source-side exergy efficiencies were 78.47% for the APR1400  Rankine cycle, 52.16% for the wind-energy system, and 12.97% for the representative solar PV system. At  60°C and 1 bar, PEM achieved a voltage efficiency of 67.08%, followed by AWE at 65.38% and AEM with  a liquid alkaline separator at 38.47%. For the detailed PEM integrated pathways, the overall exergy  efficiencies were 51.12% for Nuclear-PEM, 33.98% for Wind-PEM, and 11.48% for Solar-PEM. The  Nuclear-PEM pathway was treated as the detailed integrated benchmark case, while the source-coupled AEM  and AWE pathway results were generated as screening-level extensions using the same source-side  boundaries and electrolysis conversion factors rather than full benchmark-detail subsystem models. The  power-based Sankey analysis showed that the wind pathways achieved high source-to-hydrogen efficiencies,  while the solar pathways produced the largest absolute hydrogen output because of the large installed solar  capacity.  A normalized 1 MW cost model showed that PEM had the lowest levelized cost of hydrogen. The calculated  LCOH was $3.93/kg H₂ for solar- and nuclear-powered PEM and $4.36/kg H₂ for wind-powered PEM. None  of the evaluated cases reached the grey-hydrogen benchmark of $1.52/kg H₂ under the stated assumptions.  The results indicate that clean hydrogen production in the UAE is technically promising, but competitiveness  requires lower clean-electricity prices, reduced capital and operating costs, improved electrolyzer efficiency  and durability, and deployment at larger scales

Publication Date

7-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Mechanical Engineering (MS)

Advisor

Mohammed Abdulrahman

Advisor/Committee Member

Pablo Izquierdo Lopez

Advisor/Committee Member

Umer Javed

Comments

This thesis has been embargoed. The full-text will be available on or around 8/6/2027.

Campus

RIT Dubai

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