Techno-economic analysis of current and emerging electrolysis technologies for green hydrogen production

Hossein Nami; Omid Babaie Rizvandi; Christodoulos Chatzichristodoulou; Peter Vang Hendriksen; Henrik Lund Frandsen

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2022.116162

Techno-economic analysis of current and emerging electrolysis technologies for green hydrogen production

Hossein Nami^*, Omid Babaie Rizvandi, Christodoulos Chatzichristodoulou, Peter Vang Hendriksen, Henrik Lund Frandsen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Technical University of Denmark

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Power-to-X technologies will play a key role in the future energy market, converting renewable electricity to chemicals. The first step in most Power-to-X schemes is the production of hydrogen. Several electrolysis technologies capable of producing hydrogen by water/steam splitting are currently available, each characterized by specific advantages and drawbacks and more are under development. This work presents a techno-economic analysis of green hydrogen production via alkaline electrolysis and solid oxide electrolysis technologies. Their current state of development and anticipated improvements are also considered; an alkaline electrolyzer operating at high pressure and temperature and a solid oxide electrolyzer operating at high pressure. The projected costs of electrolytic hydrogen via the different routes are compared to the cost of hydrogen derived from natural gas with and without CO₂ capture. Threshold CO₂ taxes needed for different electrolysis technologies to be cost-competitive are derived as a function of natural gas price and levelized cost of electricity. With the projected capital expenditure for solid oxide electrolyzers, reducing the levelized cost of electricity from 60 to 30 €/MWh would decrease the cost of hydrogen from 3.2 to 1.9 €/kg by 2050. With today's capital expenditure, natural gas price of 30 €/MWh and electricity price of 30 €/MWh, a CO₂ tax of 90 €/tCO₂ would make electrolytic hydrogen from alkaline electrolyzers cheaper than hydrogen derived from natural gas. It was found that feeding free steam increases the efficiency of the low-pressure solid oxide electrolyzer from 79 to 94%.

Original language	English
Article number	116162
Journal	Energy Conversion and Management
Volume	269
Number of pages	25
ISSN	0196-8904
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2022.116162
Publication status	Published - 1. Oct 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research leading to these results was conducted in connection with the project GreenLab Skive P2X, supported by the Danish Energy Agency. The financial support project is gratefully acknowledged. We thank our colleague Nicolas Campion from DTU Management, who provided expertise that assisted this research.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Keywords

Alkaline electrolyzer (AEC)
Green hydrogen
High-temperature AEC
Power-to-X
Pressurized SOEC
Solid Oxide Electrolyzer (SOEC)

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10.1016/j.enconman.2022.116162

Cite this

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title = "Techno-economic analysis of current and emerging electrolysis technologies for green hydrogen production",

abstract = "Power-to-X technologies will play a key role in the future energy market, converting renewable electricity to chemicals. The first step in most Power-to-X schemes is the production of hydrogen. Several electrolysis technologies capable of producing hydrogen by water/steam splitting are currently available, each characterized by specific advantages and drawbacks and more are under development. This work presents a techno-economic analysis of green hydrogen production via alkaline electrolysis and solid oxide electrolysis technologies. Their current state of development and anticipated improvements are also considered; an alkaline electrolyzer operating at high pressure and temperature and a solid oxide electrolyzer operating at high pressure. The projected costs of electrolytic hydrogen via the different routes are compared to the cost of hydrogen derived from natural gas with and without CO2 capture. Threshold CO2 taxes needed for different electrolysis technologies to be cost-competitive are derived as a function of natural gas price and levelized cost of electricity. With the projected capital expenditure for solid oxide electrolyzers, reducing the levelized cost of electricity from 60 to 30 €/MWh would decrease the cost of hydrogen from 3.2 to 1.9 €/kg by 2050. With today's capital expenditure, natural gas price of 30 €/MWh and electricity price of 30 €/MWh, a CO2 tax of 90 €/tCO2 would make electrolytic hydrogen from alkaline electrolyzers cheaper than hydrogen derived from natural gas. It was found that feeding free steam increases the efficiency of the low-pressure solid oxide electrolyzer from 79 to 94%.",

keywords = "Alkaline electrolyzer (AEC), Green hydrogen, High-temperature AEC, Power-to-X, Pressurized SOEC, Solid Oxide Electrolyzer (SOEC)",

author = "Hossein Nami and Rizvandi, {Omid Babaie} and Christodoulos Chatzichristodoulou and Hendriksen, {Peter Vang} and Frandsen, {Henrik Lund}",

note = "Funding Information: The research leading to these results was conducted in connection with the project GreenLab Skive P2X, supported by the Danish Energy Agency. The financial support project is gratefully acknowledged. We thank our colleague Nicolas Campion from DTU Management, who provided expertise that assisted this research. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022",

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doi = "10.1016/j.enconman.2022.116162",

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T1 - Techno-economic analysis of current and emerging electrolysis technologies for green hydrogen production

AU - Nami, Hossein

AU - Rizvandi, Omid Babaie

AU - Chatzichristodoulou, Christodoulos

AU - Hendriksen, Peter Vang

AU - Frandsen, Henrik Lund

N1 - Funding Information: The research leading to these results was conducted in connection with the project GreenLab Skive P2X, supported by the Danish Energy Agency. The financial support project is gratefully acknowledged. We thank our colleague Nicolas Campion from DTU Management, who provided expertise that assisted this research. Publisher Copyright: © 2022

PY - 2022/10/1

Y1 - 2022/10/1

N2 - Power-to-X technologies will play a key role in the future energy market, converting renewable electricity to chemicals. The first step in most Power-to-X schemes is the production of hydrogen. Several electrolysis technologies capable of producing hydrogen by water/steam splitting are currently available, each characterized by specific advantages and drawbacks and more are under development. This work presents a techno-economic analysis of green hydrogen production via alkaline electrolysis and solid oxide electrolysis technologies. Their current state of development and anticipated improvements are also considered; an alkaline electrolyzer operating at high pressure and temperature and a solid oxide electrolyzer operating at high pressure. The projected costs of electrolytic hydrogen via the different routes are compared to the cost of hydrogen derived from natural gas with and without CO2 capture. Threshold CO2 taxes needed for different electrolysis technologies to be cost-competitive are derived as a function of natural gas price and levelized cost of electricity. With the projected capital expenditure for solid oxide electrolyzers, reducing the levelized cost of electricity from 60 to 30 €/MWh would decrease the cost of hydrogen from 3.2 to 1.9 €/kg by 2050. With today's capital expenditure, natural gas price of 30 €/MWh and electricity price of 30 €/MWh, a CO2 tax of 90 €/tCO2 would make electrolytic hydrogen from alkaline electrolyzers cheaper than hydrogen derived from natural gas. It was found that feeding free steam increases the efficiency of the low-pressure solid oxide electrolyzer from 79 to 94%.

AB - Power-to-X technologies will play a key role in the future energy market, converting renewable electricity to chemicals. The first step in most Power-to-X schemes is the production of hydrogen. Several electrolysis technologies capable of producing hydrogen by water/steam splitting are currently available, each characterized by specific advantages and drawbacks and more are under development. This work presents a techno-economic analysis of green hydrogen production via alkaline electrolysis and solid oxide electrolysis technologies. Their current state of development and anticipated improvements are also considered; an alkaline electrolyzer operating at high pressure and temperature and a solid oxide electrolyzer operating at high pressure. The projected costs of electrolytic hydrogen via the different routes are compared to the cost of hydrogen derived from natural gas with and without CO2 capture. Threshold CO2 taxes needed for different electrolysis technologies to be cost-competitive are derived as a function of natural gas price and levelized cost of electricity. With the projected capital expenditure for solid oxide electrolyzers, reducing the levelized cost of electricity from 60 to 30 €/MWh would decrease the cost of hydrogen from 3.2 to 1.9 €/kg by 2050. With today's capital expenditure, natural gas price of 30 €/MWh and electricity price of 30 €/MWh, a CO2 tax of 90 €/tCO2 would make electrolytic hydrogen from alkaline electrolyzers cheaper than hydrogen derived from natural gas. It was found that feeding free steam increases the efficiency of the low-pressure solid oxide electrolyzer from 79 to 94%.

KW - Alkaline electrolyzer (AEC)

KW - Green hydrogen

KW - High-temperature AEC

KW - Power-to-X

KW - Pressurized SOEC

KW - Solid Oxide Electrolyzer (SOEC)

U2 - 10.1016/j.enconman.2022.116162

DO - 10.1016/j.enconman.2022.116162

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85134119324

SN - 0196-8904

VL - 269

JO - Energy Conversion and Management

JF - Energy Conversion and Management

M1 - 116162

ER -

Techno-economic analysis of current and emerging electrolysis technologies for green hydrogen production

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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