Renewable hydrogen production from the purification of raw metals

A system for generating hydrogen during an electrodeposition process, the system comprising:

• an electrodeposition cell operable to contain and generate an electrorefining or electrowinning process therein so as to deposit a purified metal at a cathode of the cell, the cell comprising one or more anodes and one or more cathodes;
• a solution comprising the metal to be purified, the solution positioned in the cell to be in contact with the one or more anodes and the one or more cathodes;
• an electrical source electrically coupled to the one or more anodes and cathodes such that when the electrical source is operated under electrical potential, the purified metal is deposited at the one or more cathodes from the solution and hydrogen gas is generated;
• and
• a hydrogen gas collection unit operable to capture and store hydrogen gas produced by the cell, the cell operable to operate under one or more operating parameters selected to increase hydrogen gas generation during the electrodeposition process.

A controller to manage generation hydrogen during an electrodeposition process, the controller comprising:

• a processor and a machine-readable storage medium, the machine readable storage medium to store instructions to, when executed by the processor:
• obtain one or more operating parameters from one or more sensors or equipment associated with an electrodeposition unit, the electrodeposition unit including:
• an electrodeposition cell comprising one or more anodes and one or more cathodes and operable to perform an electrodeposition process therein thereby depositing a purified metal at the one or more cathodes,
• a solution including the metal to be purified, the solution positioned in the cell to be in contact with the one or more anodes and the one or more cathodes,
• an electrical source coupled to the one or more anodes and the one or more cathodes and to cause deposition of the purified metal to at the one or more cathodes and generation of hydrogen gas, and
• a hydrogen gas collection unit to capture and store hydrogen gas produced by the cell under one or more operating parameters selected to increase hydrogen gas generation during the electrodeposition process;
• determine whether a hydrogen gas production rate is within a predetermined range based on the one or more operating parameters;
• and
• adjust the one or more operating parameters until the hydrogen gas production rate in the cell is within the predetermined range.