Techno-Economic Assessment of Large-Scale Green Hydrogen Logistics Using Ammonia As Hydrogen Carrier: Comparison to Liquified Hydrogen Distribution and In Situ Production

Abstract

Green hydrogen plays a key role in decarbonizing the economy. However, the best conditions for producing it are often far from consumption places. This work compares three alternatives for large-scale green hydrogen distribution based on the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH): the use of green ammonia as a hydrogen carrier, the use of liquid hydrogen, and on-site production. All of the alternatives include production, packing, transport, and unpacking of hydrogen. Results show that liquid hydrogen outperforms the other alternatives in most cases. Only if the renewable electricity price in the destination site and hydrogen demand are low enough does on-site production become attractive. A demand of 1 MtH2 /y leads to a LCOH equal to 5.14 USD/kgH2 when imported by ship as liquid hydrogen from 7,200 km away and considering electricity prices of 40 USD/MWh in the production site and 100 USD/MWh in the destination. Analogously, LCOH is 9.01 USD/kgH2 when produced in situ and 10.25 USD/kgH2 using ammonia as a hydrogen carrier. The ammonia alternative is attractive if ammonia is the desired good at the destination, or when it does not matter to import any of both fuels from the levelized cost of energy viewpoint. Blue hydrogen LCOH is estimated to be 65% cheaper than green hydrogen under similar scenarios.

Clean hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition over zeolite 13X-supported Ni catalysts

“…7 Compared to liquid H 2 , which needs to be stored at −253 °C, liquid NH 3 can be stored at 20 °C and 8 bar and has 1.7-fold higher H 2 storage density (120.3 vs. 70.9 kg H 2 m −3 ), thus drawing considerable attention. 8,9 The infrastructure for NH 3 production, storage, and transportation is well-established because this compound has long been used as a refrigerant gas and material for fertilizer production. 10 In addition, NH 3 decomposition (2NH 3 (g) ⇋ N 2 (g) + 3H 2 (g), Δ H ° = 46.22 kJ mol −1 ) generates no greenhouse gases and is therefore an eco-friendly H 2 production process.…”

Optimization of Yield and Conversion Rates in Methane Dry Reforming Using Artificial Neural Networks and the Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm

“…Greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced through burning fossil fuels have an adverse impact on both the environment and society. , Hydrogen is an eco-friendly energy source that rivals fossil fuels in terms of its heating value. − As part of the efforts to find sustainable alternatives to gray syngas production that emit extensive GHGs and meet current and future demand for syngas, Hilliard conducted an economic analysis of green hydrogen technology and demonstrated that it is the most promising option in the distant future due to its current extensive energy provisions, and recent trends revealed considerably greater costs than methane reforming technologies. Villalba-Herreros et al conducted a technoeconomic study of large-scale production of green hydrogen, concluding that blue hydrogen had levelized costs 60% lower than those of green hydrogen production …”