Sustainable Hydrogen from Palm Oil Rachis: A Techno-Environmental-Economic Assessment for Palm Rachis Gasification in Colombian Post-Conflict Rural Territories

Abstract

The global push for energy decarbonization has increased interest in hydrogen as a clean energy carrier. Biohydrogen from agricultural residues is a promising pathway for countries with strong agro-industrial sectors. This study evaluates the technical, economic, and environmental feasibility of hydrogen production from palm oil rachis in two post-conflict regions of Colombia: a large-scale facility in Bolívar and a small-scale plant in Santander. The assessment integrates Aspen Plus® (version 14) simulations using the NRTL thermodynamic model, an attributional gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with ReCiPe Midpoint (H), and a techno-economic analysis. The simulated process includes biomass drying, decomposition, steam gasification, syngas cleaning, and methane reforming. A key technical finding was the non-linear relationship between feedstock composition and process yield. Although Santander’s biomass had a higher hydrogen content (9.42% vs. 6.58%), Bolívar achieved a much higher conversion efficiency (0.198 kg H2/kg biomass) and produced over seven times more hydrogen while processing only 5.8 times more biomass. Environmental results showed clear advantages for Bolívar, which presented lower impacts across most categories compared to Santander and the fossil-based hydrogen benchmark. Bolívar achieved a Global Warming Potential of 2.47 kg CO2 eq/kg H2, far below the 15.03 kg CO2 eq/kg H2 of Santander, and showed favorable performance in particulate matter formation, acidification, and fossil resource scarcity. Economically, Bolívar was viable, with a Net Present Value of USD 25.01 million, a Benefit–Cost Ratio of 3.29, and a discounted payback period of 4.54 years. Santander was economically unfeasible under all conditions. Hydrogen production from palm rachis is technically feasible, environmentally beneficial, and economically viable when biomass availability and process integration are adequate, as illustrated by the Bolívar case.