Cooling Water Demand Reshapes Global Water-Sustainable Hydrogen Production

Cooling Water Demand Reshapes Global Water-Sustainable Hydrogen Production | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Cooling Water Demand Reshapes Global Water-Sustainable Hydrogen Production Bernhard Wortmann, Daniel Arenas, Christoph Winkler, Detlef Stolten, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8697986/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract The stoichiometric water demand for hydrogen production via electrolysis is modest, yet total water use is often dominated by cooling requirements. While the stoichiometric water demand is fixed by the electrochemical reaction, water requirements for cooling electrolysis varies widely depending on local environmental, meteorological and operating parameters. Despite its increasing prominence in sustainable hydrogen production, the significant variability in cooling water requirements for electrolysis across different climates and regions remains poorly quantified. This work aims to address this gap by using a thermodynamic model tailored to the water intense evaporative cooling technology. We contextualized results by incorporating local water scarcity and renewable capacity factors, enabling comprehensive recommendations for sustainable water management. The results indicate that evaporative cooling systems need special considerations in regions where water electrolysis is driven by high PV potentials, with a different picture for wind driven water electrolysis. This highlights the need for region-specific strategies that balance technology choice with local water availability for upcoming hydrogen export regions to ensure resource-efficient hydrogen production. The insights gained are crucial for shaping policies and practices that ensure both environmental and economic sustainability in the hydrogen economy. Energy Engineering Systems Engineering Environmental Engineering Environmental Policy Sustainable water use Hydrogen economy Cooling technologies Energy transition Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8697986","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":581123085,"identity":"bbe8c5fa-eaab-4a0f-a703-e1d093573689","order_by":0,"name":"Bernhard Wortmann","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwST+cAHBgY2BgZ2xgZmII+AlgQQwZY4A6yFmXgtPIYzILbBEA5gDlT5uPLHNnlz6Z6PjT8Y+BL7mZkbPxcwWMvh0mLZwGNseCbhtuHOOWc3NkgAXTezmbFZegZDujFOhx3g3SbZkHCbccON3O0PDP+xJW44zNjGzMNwOLGBgBb7DTdyHjYkAG3ZD9VST0hLIlALY8MBoJYNzBAtCTj90sz/2bAh7Xbyhhtpho0NDGzGMw4D/cJjkG6IyxZz9rbEhw02t2033Eh+CAyxY7L97e0PP/NUWMvjsgU9/I/BHIxTAwaoIV7pKBgFo2AUjBgAAHiYVc7T5CLuAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6400-6707","institution":"Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich Systems Analysis (ICE-2)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bernhard","middleName":"","lastName":"Wortmann","suffix":""},{"id":581123086,"identity":"dd48ce89-a1bc-4e81-b569-7bff4597812a","order_by":1,"name":"Daniel Arenas","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"RWTH Aachen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Daniel","middleName":"","lastName":"Arenas","suffix":""},{"id":581123087,"identity":"f26aee90-d005-42d3-b0d8-0e8fb6c46272","order_by":2,"name":"Christoph Winkler","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich Systems Analysis (ICE-2)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christoph","middleName":"","lastName":"Winkler","suffix":""},{"id":581123088,"identity":"6d68d467-08c1-4a26-a340-36490e5b57e0","order_by":3,"name":"Detlef Stolten","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"RWTH Aachen, Chair for Fuel Cells","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Detlef","middleName":"","lastName":"Stolten","suffix":""},{"id":581123089,"identity":"c11fb7b4-6c26-4ca7-ba57-58737d19438c","order_by":4,"name":"Heidi Heinrichs","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich Systems Analysis (ICE-2)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Heidi","middleName":"","lastName":"Heinrichs","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-26 08:21:03","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8697986/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8697986/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104402166,"identity":"4cc900a1-7553-4f16-abd0-0c0881665c14","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:14:32","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1507842,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"WaterCoolingPaperwithAnnex.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8697986/v2_covered_fff9dd93-1d46-4c12-8f5e-6ed63d3f2fa5.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Cooling Water Demand Reshapes Global Water-Sustainable Hydrogen Production","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[{"identity":"4a382825-23c2-4a99-a2a0-306d6c63b884","identifier":"10.13039/501100000781","name":"European Research Council","awardNumber":"101076649","order_by":0}],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Forschungszentrum Jülich","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Sustainable water use, Hydrogen economy, Cooling technologies, Energy transition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8697986/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8697986/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe stoichiometric water demand for hydrogen production via electrolysis is modest, yet total water use is often dominated by cooling requirements. While the stoichiometric water demand is fixed by the electrochemical reaction, water requirements for cooling electrolysis varies widely depending on local environmental, meteorological and operating parameters. Despite its increasing prominence in sustainable hydrogen production, the significant variability in cooling water requirements for electrolysis across different climates and regions remains poorly quantified. This work aims to address this gap by using a thermodynamic model tailored to the water intense evaporative cooling technology. We contextualized results by incorporating local water scarcity and renewable capacity factors, enabling comprehensive recommendations for sustainable water management. The results indicate that evaporative cooling systems need special considerations in regions where water electrolysis is driven by high PV potentials, with a different picture for wind driven water electrolysis. This highlights the need for region-specific strategies that balance technology choice with local water availability for upcoming hydrogen export regions to ensure resource-efficient hydrogen production. The insights gained are crucial for shaping policies and practices that ensure both environmental and economic sustainability in the hydrogen economy.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Cooling Water Demand Reshapes Global Water-Sustainable Hydrogen Production","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":2,"date":"2026-03-04 19:11:40","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8697986/v2","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}},{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-27 11:46:14","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8697986/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"22e6663c-0f79-48cc-8887-2fc350e06ce4","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 4th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":61819814,"name":"Energy Engineering"},{"id":61819815,"name":"Systems Engineering"},{"id":61819816,"name":"Environmental Engineering"},{"id":61819817,"name":"Environmental Policy"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-27T11:46:14+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-04 19:11:40","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v2","identity":"rs-8697986","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8697986","identity":"rs-8697986","version":["v2"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}