Process for separation of hydrogen and oxygen

1. A process for separating hydrogen and oxygen from a gas mixture that is produced from photocatalytic splitting of water comprising:

(a) contacting a water source with a water splitting photocatalyst, and exposing the water and photocatalyst to light under conditions that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen forming a feed gas for separation;

(b) separating hydrogen and oxygen from the feed gas by

(i) mixing the feed gas with a hydrogen stream, reducing the combustibility of the feed source and forming a feed source;

(ii) compressing the feed source to a pressure of at least 10 bars forming a compressed feed source;

(iii) exposing the compressed feed source to an adsorption medium that differentially adsorbs oxygen producing an enriched hydrogen product gas and an adsorbed oxygen source;

(iv) separating the enriched hydrogen stream and the adsorbed oxygen source; and

(v) desorbing the adsorbed oxygen from the adsorbed oxygen source by reducing the pressure on the adsorption medium forming an oxygen enriched product gas;

(c) collecting, storing, and/or utilizing a hydrogen product gas and an oxygen product gas.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process is performed at 5 to 40° C.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process is performed at about 20° C.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the feed source is mixed with a recycled portion of the enriched hydrogen product gas.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the feed source is compressed using a centrifugal compressor.

6. The process of claim 1 , further comprising filtering and dehydrating the feed source or the compressed feed source prior to separating hydrogen from the feed source.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the adsorption medium comprises a molecular sieve that preferentially adsorbs oxygen when under pressure.

8. The process of claim 7 , wherein the molecular sieve is a carbon molecular sieve that selectively adsorbs oxygen or other non-hydrogen molecules.

9. The process of claim 7 , wherein the adsorption medium further comprises zeolites.

10. The process of claim 9 , wherein the zeolite is a 5 angstrom zeolite.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the adsorption medium comprises zeolite molecular sieves and carbon molecular sieves.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the feed source is compressed to at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 bar.

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein the feed source comprises about 70 mol % hydrogen.

14. The process of claim 1 , wherein the enriched hydrogen product gas comprises at least 95 mol % hydrogen.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process is performed under conditions and using equipment to minimize spark generation.