Simple hydrogen gas production method using waste silicon

We investigated a simple and safe method for producing hydrogen using Si powder, which is discarded in the semiconductor industry. Using the reaction of generating hydrogen from Si powder and an aqueous NaOH solution, a simple hydrogen generator that imitated Kipp's apparatus was produced. Then, by combining this apparatus with a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, an automatic hydrogen generation system based on the amount of electric power required was proposed. Furthermore, it was found that hydrogen can also be generated using non-poisonous and deleterious substances Ca(OH)2 and Na2CO3 instead of the deleterious substance NaOH and adding water to the mixture with Si powder. The by-products Na2SiO3 and CaCO3 can be used as raw materials for glass. The simple hydrogen generator produced in this study can be used as a fuel supply source for small-scale power generation systems as an auxiliary power source. •A simple and safe method to produce hydrogen gas has been achieved by using silicon waste powder.•A device to use the hydrogen gas produced to small-scale generate power using fuel cells was proposed.•By-products of the hydrogen production process can be reused as raw materials for glass.