A feasibility study of green hydrogen liquefaction for hydrogen refueling station: Multi-criteria based integrative assessment

Abstract

Considering an important energy vector, hydrogen (H2) has earned enormous attention due to its cleanliness and potential role in decarbonizing the existing systems, e.g., transportation, industrial sector, and commercial units. This is the reason why developing the H2 economy is one of the most crucial aspects under research and numerous studies forecast that the H2 demand will increase many folds in the near future. However, the production of H2 and its transportation have serious challenges due to the fact of energy and cost intensiveness. In this context, we have made an effort to assess the potential feasibility of producing green H2 and simultaneously integrate it with a liquefaction unit to make it ready for transportation. Moreover, the proposed process is evaluated based on renewable energy resources to estimate the potential solution for future energy goals. The proposed model for liquefied H2 (LH2) production claimed high energy efficiency and the value in terms of specific energy consumption is obtained as 5.418 kWh kg LH2−1 for the capacity of 10 ton per day of LH2. A detailed techno-economic analysis provides levelized cost of LH2 by varying criteria for economic feasibility. Environmental assessment results in the lowest environmental potential during green LH2 production, which reveals that the solid oxide electrolysis system is a potential candidate for green LH2 production. As per multi-criteria decision analysis, results showed that the onshore wind with alkaline water electrolysis and proton exchange membrane water electrolysis have high capabilities to become the potential technology for green LH2 production.