Sustainable Green Hydrogen Transport: A Systematic Framework for the Design of the whole Supply Chain

Abstract

In view of achieving the decarbonization target, green hydrogen is commonly regarded as the alternative capable of reducing the share of fossil fuels. Despite its wide application as a chemical on industrial scale, hydrogen utilization as an energy vector still suffers from unfavorable economics, mainly due to its high cost of production, storage and transportation. To overcome the last two of these issues, different hydrogen carriers have been proposed. Hydrogen storage and transportation through these carriers involve: 1. the carrier hydrogenation, exploiting green hydrogen produced at the loading terminal, where renewable sources are easily accessible, 2. the storage and transportation of the hydrogenated species and 3. its subsequent dehydrogenation at the unloading terminal, to favour H2 release. Although there is a number of studies in literature on the economic feasibility of hydrogen transport through different H2 vectors, very few of them delve into the technical evaluation of the hydrogen value chain. From the process design point of view, the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation stages are of paramount importance, considering that they are the cost drivers of the whole system. This work aims to address this gap by presenting a systematic methodology to technically analyse different hydrogen vectors. For the sake of example, ammonia and dibenzyltoluene are considered. Weaknesses of the overall value chain are pointed out, to understand where to focus research efforts for future process intensification.