Abstract
This study investigates the optimal design of low-carbon hydrogen supply chains on a national scale. We consider hydrogen production based on several feedstocks and energy sources, namely water with electricity, natural gas and biomass. When using natural gas, we couple hydrogen production with carbon capture and storage. The design of the hydrogen, biomass and carbon dioxide (CO2) infrastructure is performed by solving an optimization problem that determines the optimal selection, size and location of the hydrogen production technologies, and the optimal structure of the hydrogen, biomass and CO2 networks. First, we investigate the rationale behind the optimal design of low-carbon hydrogen supply chains by referring to an idealized system configuration and by performing a parametric analysis of the most relevant design parameters of the supply chains, such as biomass availability. This allows drawing general conclusions, independent of any specific geographic features, about the minimum-cost and minimum-emissions system designs and network structures. Moreover, we analyze the Swiss case study to derive specific guidelines concerning the design of hydrogen supply chains deploying carbon capture and storage. We assess the impact of relevant design parameters, such as location of CO2 storage facilities, techno-economic features of CO2 capture technologies, and network losses, on the optimal supply chain design and on the competition between the hydrogen and CO2 networks. Findings highlight the fundamental role of biomass (when available) and of carbon capture and storage for decarbonizing hydrogen supply chains while transitioning to a wider deployment of renewable energy sources.
Highlights
The evidence that the anthropogenic alteration of the earth carbon balance is leading to climate change, together with the confirmation of its consequences, has clearly indicated the necessity of finding new routes for energy provision, where no-carbon emission is achieved around 2050 and global warming is kept below 1.5 °C [1]
We model, optimize and assess hydrogen supply chains in which hydrogen production is based on several energy sources, namely electricity, natural gas and biomass, and can be coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to offset the Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from the reforming of natural gas
We carry out a multi-objective optimization that minimizes cost and CO2 emissions of hydrogen supply chains (HSC) where hydrogen can be produced via reforming of natural gas (SMR technology), or using biomass, or through water electrolysis using electricity (PEM electrolyzer, Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer (PEME))
Summary
The evidence that the anthropogenic alteration of the earth carbon balance is leading to climate change, together with the confirmation of its consequences, has clearly indicated the necessity of finding new routes for energy provision, where no-carbon emission is achieved around 2050 and global warming is kept below 1.5 °C [1]. Whereas we do not perform a fullblown sensitivity analysis of the optimization model to address the uncertainty of the input data, we believe that this approach allows identifying the most relevant parameters in terms of system design and drawing general considerations independently of any specific application with its specific geographical patterns Such a configuration is used to study the optimal design of hydrogen supply chains using biomass as energy source, as well as the interplay between H2 and biomass networks. We note that combining the use of biomass as energy source with CCS chains would allow obtaining hydrogen with net-negative CO2 emissions [42,43,44] Such a route is referred to as BECCS (bio-energy with carbon capture and storage) and will most likely be key in the second half of the century to compensate for an overshoot in global temperatures and to cope with unavoidable positive emissions, for example, from aviation and shipping and from agriculture [1,43].
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