Life cycle assessment of hydrogen supply chain with special attention on hydrogen refuelling stations |
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Authors: | Christina Wulf Martin Kaltschmitt |
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Affiliation: | Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Institut für Umwelttechnik und Energiewirtschaft, Hamburg University of Technology, Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Eissendorfer Straße 40, D-21073 Hamburg, Germany |
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Abstract: | The controversial and highly emotional discussion about biofuels in recent years has shown that greenhouse gas2 (GHG) emissions can only be evaluated in an acceptable way by carrying out a full life cycle assessment (LCA) taking the overall life cycle including all necessary pre-chains into consideration. Against this background, the goal of this paper is it to analyse the overall life cycle of a hydrogen production and provision. A state of the art hydrogen refuelling station in Hamburg/Germany opened in February 2012 is therefore taken into consideration. Here at least 50% hydrogen from renewable sources of energy is produced on-site by water electrolysis based on surplus electricity from wind (mainly offshore wind parks) and water. The remaining other 50% of hydrogen to be sold by this station mainly to hydrogen-fuelled buses is provided by trucks from a large-scale production plant where hydrogen is produced from methane or glycerol as a by-product of the biodiesel production. These two pathways are compared within the following explanations with hydrogen production from biomass and from coal. The results show that – with the goal of reducing GHG emissions on a life cycle perspective – hydrogen production based on a water electrolysis fed by electricity from the German electricity mix should be avoided. Steam methane reforming is more promising in terms of GHG reduction but it is still based on a finite fossil fuel. For a climatic sound provision of hydrogen as a fuel electricity from renewable sources of energy like wind or biomass should be used. |
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Keywords: | Life cycle assessment Hydrogen production Hydrogen refuelling station Electrolysis Gasification |
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