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A comparative study of low-emissions hydrogen production processes: Technical limitations and future trends
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Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
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en
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68 + 4
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Abstract
Climate change has been driving the energy transition and it has come with other interests such as energy security and the pursuit of making zero-emission products and resources. One of these interests is the production of low-emission hydrogen whose technological pathway is not yet fully defined.
Currently, there are electrolytic, thermal, and biological processes to produce low-emission hydrogen. In this thesis work, fourteen different technologies are analyzed and compared mainly in terms of efficiency, LCOH, TRL, and CO2 equivalent emissions.
When comparing the electrolytic processes, from the results we observed that the alkaline electrolyzers are the ones that in the short term have the greatest potential for scaling up, however, the PEMWE have the advantage of being able to be integrated with intermittent energy sources such as renewables. The SOEC process showed higher efficiency and leverages the use of industrial waste heat, in addition to being able to synthesize other fuels, if it manages to overcome its technical limitations such as low durability, it is the most promising alternative.
When comparing thermal processes, in the short term, the one that is more developed and can take advantage of the current hydrogen production infrastructure is SMR with CCUS. Still, a good alternative that will most likely take over a good chunk of hydrogen supply is Gasification, for its possibility of being fed with biomass and leveraging the existing coal gasification process. However, its implementation is limited by the low biomass to hydrogen yield.
Biological processes present interesting qualities such as carbon absorption, however, they are in very early stages of development and have not demonstrated great potential in terms of efficiency, applicability, or cost, therefore they are not considered conducive to low-emission hydrogen production.