Techno-economic and Environmental Assessment of 1 MW Hydrogen Production from Woody Biomass Gasification

Abstract

As savings of GHG are crucial to combat climate crisis, the energy system has to be transitioned towards sustainable energy carriers such as renewable hydrogen. Facing, on the one hand, the increased deployment of electric vehicles as well as heat pumps and, on the other hand, the lack of water in sunny regions suitable for photovoltaics installation, hydrogen production processes with lower electricity and water consumption compared to electrolysis should also be considered as contributing technologies. Hydrogen production from biomass gasification requires far less than 50 kWh/kgH2 whilst additionally, hydrogen can be sustainably produced from woody biomass as well as biogenic residues. This work presents the techno-economic and environmental assessment of two different processes for the production of 1 and 60 MW hydrogen meeting fuel cell quality. Dual fluidized bed (DFB) steam gasification and air gasification in a downdraft fixed-bed (FIXB) were considered as commercially available technologies for the thermochemical conversion of woody biomass into product gas. Key performance indicators (KPIs), including technical, techno-economic, and environmental parameters, were deducted from mass and energy balances calculated by process simulation. The specific electricity consumption amounts to 6.9-14.3 kWh/kgH2, whereby overall energetic efficiencies for these processes ranges between 53-66 %. Assuming the economically most favorable process, levelized costs of hydrogen (LCOH) of 9.44 €2019/kgH2 and 3.86 €2019/kgH2 for 1 MW and 60 MW hydrogen production, respectively, were calculated.