Short Communication

The swift rise in the global population and its corresponding energy demands leads to the ever-increasing exploitation of fossil fuels ^1-3. The world population crossed a whopping figure of 7.9 billion in August 2021 and will cross 8.5 billion by 2030, as per the UN projects world population report. This may further increase the burden on the world's fossil fuel reserves and speed up its exploitation and consumption. In developing countries like Brazil, South Africa, and the South Asian region, 12–24 GJ/cap of energy consumption is required annually to provide a decent standard of living ⁴. Hence, the energy demand will undoubtedly increase in the future scenario, and still, 84% of the world’s energy is generated from fossil fuels (Figure 1) ^5-7. The exploitation of fossil fuels at such a fast pace is never seen before in the earth’s history. The fossil fuels reserve, i.e.,  coal, oil, and gas, are formed and buried under the earth's crust for millions of years. These fossil fuels are now being exploited at such an abrupt rate that they are estimated to finish within next five decades ^8,9. Further, the exploitation of fossil fuels will eventually increase the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the earth's atmosphere concisely ¹⁰. The concentration of the GHGs (i.e., CO₂ and CH₄) is rising continuously  at very fast rate ^11,12. The concentration of CO₂ reached 419.13 ppm in June 2021 from 315 ppm in 1959. CH₄ is 27 times more potent to the greenhouse effect, and likewise, its concentration also increased from 1650 ppb in 1985 to 1893 ppb in June 2021 ¹³.

Figure 1: The Global Energy Consumption Scenario (Courtesy: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2019)5. Click here to view Figure

The rising global temperature is thus interfering with the ecosystems, causing havocs via flooding, draughts and sinking of lands in various regions ^14-16. The solution to the problem of global warming endures in the vision of sustainable development.  In December 2015, 'The Paris Agreement’ was signed between 196 countries to achieve sustainable growth and control the rising global temperatures. The goals of the Paris Agreement can be achieved if the dependency on fossil fuels is controlled. This poses another challenge for alternative fuel sources that could replace fossil fuels ¹⁷. Hydrogen can be a promising alternative to fossil fuels due to its high calorific value and abundance of feedstock availability in nature ^18,19. The energy generated by hydrogen is highest compared when to carbonaceous fuels (cf. Table 1). Further, hydrogen produces only water on combustion and hence a non-carbonaceous and clean source of energy ^20,21.

Table 1: Energy Content of Different Fuels ¹⁸.

Several world governments  (including developing countries like Brazil and India) came forward and focusing on the vision of ‘Hydrogen Economy’ for sustainable development. The future demand of ever-increasing population can’t be met by the fossil fuels alone, especially in the extremely populated countries like India ²². Hence, there is a great need of an alternative and clean source of energy. However, sustainability can be achieved via reducing the carbon footprints and hence grey hydrogen production cannot actualize the goals. Recently, some researchers also focused on maintaining a carbon balance in the atmosphere. This further suggests creating more carbon sinks (i.e., planting forests and commercializing CO₂ capture techniques) to maintain lower GHG concentrations of GHGs ²³. Therefore, it can be concluded that the rising world population, its parallel energy demand, and reliance on fossil fuels as the main source of energy are directly associated with one another. This is causing the accumulation of GHGs in the atmosphere rapidly. The remedies for global warming and sustainable development comprise of the all-round approaches, i.e., (a) alternative economic and clean source of fuel to lower the dependency on fossil fuels, (b) enhancements in the sinks for GHGs including the increase in forest areas, and (c) investing in R&D for exploring techno-economic feasibility in renewable energy sources.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, for providing the resources in conducting this research.

References

1. Yusuf, M., Farooqi, A.S., Keong, L.K., Hellgardt, K., and Abdullah, B. (2021) Contemporary trends in composite Ni-based catalysts for CO2 reforming of methane. Chem. Eng. Sci., 229, 116072.
   CrossRef
2. Yusuf, M., Beg, M., Ubaidullah, M., Shaikh, S., Keong, L., Hellgardt, K., and Abdullah, B. (2021) Kinetic studies for DRM over high-performance Ni-W/Al2O3-MgO catalyst. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 1–10.
   CrossRef
3. Alam, M.A., Ya, H.H., Yusuf, M., Sivraj, R., Mamat, O.B., Sapuan, M.S., Masood, F., Parveez, B., and Sattar, M. (2021) Modeling , Optimization and Performance Evaluation of Response Surface Methodology. Materials (Basel)., 14 (16), 4703.
   CrossRef
4. Millward-Hopkins, J., Steinberger, J.K., Rao, N.D., and Oswald, Y. (2020) Providing decent living with minimum energy: A global scenario. Glob. Environ. Chang., 65 (September), 102168.
   CrossRef
5. Bernard Looney (2020) Stratistical Review of World Energy. Br. Pet., 69 Edition.
6. Yusuf, M., and Athar, M. (2015) Biodiesel Production Using Hexane as Co-Solvent. J. Biofuels, 6 (2), 88.
   CrossRef
7. Yusuf, M. (2016) Natural Gas Hydrates: The Future’s Fuel. J. Environ. Res. Dev., 10 (4), 738–746.
8. Burek, S. (2010) When will fossil fuels finally run out and what is the technical potential for renewable energy resources? Int. J. COMADEM, 13 (4), 22–27.
9. Khan, S., Yusuf, M., and Sardar, N. (2018) Studies on Rheological Behavior of Xanthan Gum Solutions in Presence of Additives. Pet. Petrochemical Eng. J., 2 (5), 1–7.
   CrossRef
10. Yusuf, M., Salam, A., Alam, M.A., Keong, L.K., Hellgardt, K., and Abdullah, B. (2021) Response surface optimization of syngas production from greenhouse gases via DRM over high performance Ni-W catalyst. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy.
    CrossRef
11. Yusuf, M., Farooqi, A.S., Alam, M.A., Keong, L.K., Hellgardt, K., and Abdullah, B. (2020) Latest trends in Syngas production employing compound catalysts for methane dry reforming. IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci., 991 (1), 12071.
    CrossRef
12. Farooqi, A.S., Yusuf, M., Ishak, M.A.I., Zabidi, N.A.M., Saidur, R., Khan, A., and Abdullah, B. (2021) Combined H₂O and CO₂ Reforming of CH₄ Over Ca Promoted Ni/Al₂O₃ Catalyst: Enhancement of Ni-CaO Interactions. Adv. Mater. Sci. Eng., 220–229.
13. Global, E., Division, M., Greenhouse, G., and Reference, G. (2021) Global Monitoring Division (/ gmd /) Monthly Average Mauna Loa CO₂. 2–5.
14. Abdullah, B., Abd Ghani, N.A., and Vo, D.V.N. (2017) Recent advances in dry reforming of methane over Ni-based catalysts. J. Clean. Prod., 162, 170–185.
    CrossRef
15. Rosdin, R.D. binti, Yusuf, M., and Abdullah, B. (2021) Dry reforming of methane over Ni-based catalysts: Effect of ZrO2 and MgO addition as support. Mater. Lett. X, 12 (August), 100095.
    CrossRef
16. Yusuf, Mohammad; Farooqi, Ahmad Salaam; Alam, Mohammad Azad; Keong, Lau Kok; Hellgardt, Klaus; Abdullah, B. (2021) Performance of Ni/Al₂O₃-MgO catalyst for Dry Reforming of Methane: Effect of preparation routes. IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci. Eng., 1092 (012069), 1–9.
    CrossRef
17. Yusuf, M., Farooqi, A.S., Al-Kahtani, A.A., Ubaidullah, M., Alam, M.A., Keong, L.K., Hellgardt, K., and Abdullah, B. (2021) Syngas production from greenhouse gases using Ni–W bimetallic catalyst via dry methane reforming: Effect of W addition. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 46 (53), 27044–27061.
    CrossRef
18. Dutta, S. (2014) A review on production, storage of hydrogen and its utilization as an energy resource. J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 20 (4), 1148–1156.
    CrossRef
19. Yusuf, M., Alnarabiji, M.S., and Abdullah, B. (2021) Clean Hydrogen Production Technologies BT  - Advances in Sustainable Energy: Policy, Materials and Devices, Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 159–170.
    CrossRef
20. Farooqi, A.S., Yusuf, M., Mohd Zabidi, N.A., Saidur, R., Sanaullah, K., Farooqi, A.S., Khan, A., and Abdullah, B. (2021) A comprehensive review on improving the production of rich-hydrogen via combined steam and CO₂ reforming of methane over Ni-based catalysts. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 46 (60), 31024–31040.
    CrossRef
21. Iqbal, F., Abdullah, B., Oladipo, H., Yusuf, M., Alenazey, F., Nguyen, T.D., and Ayoub, M. (2021) Recent developments in photocatalytic irradiation from CO₂ to methanol, in Nanostructured Photocatalysts- From Fundamental to Practical Applications (eds.Nguyen, V.-H., Vo, D.-V.N., and Nanda, S.B.T.-N.P.), Elsevier, pp. 519–540.
    CrossRef
22. Jha, S.K., and Puppala, H. (2017) Prospects of renewable energy sources in India: Prioritization of alternative sources in terms of Energy Index. Energy, 127, 116–127.
    CrossRef
23. Nogia, P., Sidhu, G.K., Mehrotra, R., and Mehrotra, S. (2016) Capturing atmospheric carbon: Biological and nonbiological methods. Int. J. Low-Carbon Technol., 11 (2), 266–274.
    CrossRef