Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Koj, Jan Christian; Wulf, Christina; Schreiber, Andrea; Zapp, Petra

doi:10.3390/en10070860

Cited by 104 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The hydrogen production is assumed to take place over 20 years in each location with a replacement of cell stacks after 10 years. Further details and technical specifications can be found in Koj et al (2017). The inventory in PSILCA 2.0 is inserted in monetary terms per 1 kg hydrogen produced (see the Supporting Information).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fair Salary, Gender wage gap The goal of this paper is to provide a case study in SLCA through the analysis of the social impacts of industrial hydrogen production using alkaline water electrolysis (AEL) in order to provide grounds for a decision regarding the location of production. The environmental (Koj, Wulf, Schreiber, & Zapp, 2017) and economic (Kuckshinrichs, Ketelaer, & Koj, 2017) dimensions have already been investigated. Therefore, this paper completes the sustainability assessment of AEL hydrogen production by adding the social dimension, specifically for the stakeholder workers group.…”

Section: Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, this paper completes the sustainability assessment of AEL hydrogen production by adding the social dimension, specifically for the stakeholder workers group. Koj et al (2017) also provide a detailed representation of the product system used. The analysis includes the manufacturing of the electrolyzer (produced in Switzerland for all three process chains) and hydrogen production in each case study country.…”

Section: Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working conditions in hydrogen production: A social life cycle assessment

Werker

Wulf

Zapp

2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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Social impacts of novel technology can, parallel to environmental and economic consequences, influence its sustainability. By analyzing the case of hydrogen production by advanced alkaline water electrolysis (AEL) from a life cycle perspective, this paper illustrates the social implications of the manufacturing of the electrolyzer and hydrogen production when installed in Germany, Austria, and Spain. This paper complements previous environmental and economic assessments, which selected this set of countries based on their different structures in electricity production. The paper uses a mixed method design to analyze the social impact for the workers along the process chain. Appropriate indicators related to working conditions are selected on the basis of the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The focus on workers is chosen as a first example to test the relatively new Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) database version 2.0. The results of the quantitative assessment are then complemented and compared through an investigation of the underlying raw data and a qualitative literature analysis. Overall, advanced AEL is found to have least social impact along the German process chain, followed by the Spanish and the Austrian. All three process chains show impacts on global upstream processes. In order to reduce social impact and ultimately contribute to Sustainable Development, policymakers and industry need to work together to further improve certain aspects of working conditions in different locations, particularly within global upstream processes.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working conditions in hydrogen production: A social life cycle assessment

Werker

Wulf

Zapp

2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…The large-scale use of hydrogen energy is an effective way to solve the greenhouse effect caused by the current burning of traditional fossil fuels since the combustion of hydrogen does not release CO 2 [3,4]. The development and application of new hydrogen production technology are expected to provide effective solutions for alleviating the global energy crisis and air pollution [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Hydrogen Sulfide and Redox Reactions on the Surface Properties and Hydrogen Permeability of Pd Membranes

et al. 2018

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Although hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) was always a negative factor leading to the reduction of hydrogen permeability of palladium (Pd) membranes, its proper application could result in a positive effect. In this study, pure Pd membranes were firstly reacted with H 2 S at 23-450 • C, and then treated by redox reactions. Afterwards, the hydrogen permeability was tested under different reaction conditions using a hydrogen penetrant testing device. Moreover, both products and morphology changes occurred on the Pd membrane surface were analyzed using XRD, XPS and SEM. The results showed that H 2 S was dissociated to produce sulfides at 23 • C. With a rise of temperature, a regular change took place in the reaction products, morphology of the Pd membrane surface and hydrogen permeability. Adsorbed impurities such as sulfides and free carbon on the Pd membrane surface were removed by the redox treatment. The hydrogen permeability was improved by about 80% for the Pd membrane material subjected to the treatment method stated the above against the untreated one.

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“…Details for SMR with and without CCS are given in Table S3 of the Supplementary Materials. For hydrogen production via water electrolysis, LCI data from a recent publication by Koj et al were used [28]. This refers to a pressurized 6 MW alkaline electrolysis (AEL) system with a novel Zirfon membrane, studied in a recent European research project [29].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Hydrogen in the Ecological Benefits of Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel Production and Use: An LCA Benchmark

Olindo

Vogtländer

2019

Sustainability

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Desulphurization of oil-based fuels is common practice to mitigate the ecological burden to ecosystems and human health of SOx emissions. In many countries, fuels for vehicles are restricted to 10 ppm sulphur. For marine fuels, low sulphur contents are under discussion. The environmental impact of desulphurization processes is, however, quite high: (1) The main current source for industrial hydrogen is Steam Methane Reforming (SMR), with a rather high level of CO2 emissions, (2) the hydrotreating process, especially below 150 ppm, needs a lot of energy. These two issues lead to three research questions: (a) What is the overall net ecological benefit of the current desulphurization practice? (b) At which sulfphur ppm level in the fuel is the additional ecological burden of desulphurization higher than the additional ecological benefit of less SOx pollution from combustion? (c) To what extent can cleaner hydrogen processes improve the ecological benefit of diesel desulphurization? In this paper we use LCA to analyze the processes of hydrotreatment, the recovery of sulphur via amine treating of H2S, and three processes of hydrogen production: SMR without Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), SMR with 53% and 90% CCS, and water electrolysis with two types of renewable energy. The prevention-based eco-costs system is used for the overall comparison of the ecological burden and the ecological benefit. The ReCiPe system was applied as well but appeared not suitable for such a comparison (other damage-based indicators cannot be applied either). The overall conclusion is that (1) the overall net ecological benefit of hydrogen-based Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel is dependent of local conditions, but is remarkably high, (2) desulphurization below 10 ppm is beneficial for big cities, and (3) cleaner production of hydrogen reduces eco-cost by a factor 1.8–3.4.

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Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Cited by 104 publications

References 16 publications

Working conditions in hydrogen production: A social life cycle assessment

Working conditions in hydrogen production: A social life cycle assessment

Influence of Hydrogen Sulfide and Redox Reactions on the Surface Properties and Hydrogen Permeability of Pd Membranes

The Role of Hydrogen in the Ecological Benefits of Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel Production and Use: An LCA Benchmark

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