Techno-economical evaluations of decarbonized hydrogen production based on direct biogas conversion using thermo-chemical looping cycles

Hydrogen production by biogas conversion represent a promising solution for reduction of fossil CO2 emissions. In this work, a detailed techno-economic analysis was performed for decarbonized hydrogen production based on biogas conversion using calcium and chemical looping cycles. All evaluated concepts generate 100,000 Nm(3)/h high purity hydrogen. As reference cases, the biogas steam reforming design without decarbonization and with CO2 capture by gas-liquid chemical absorption were also considered. The results show that iron-based chemical looping design has higher energy efficiency compared with the gas-liquid absorption case by 2.3 net percentage points as well as a superior carbon capture rate (99% vs. 65%). The calcium looping case shows a lower efficiency than chemical scrubbing, with about 2.5 net percentage points, but the carbon capture rate is higher (95% vs. 65%). The hydrogen production cost increases with decarbonization, the calcium looping shows the most favourable situation (37.14 (sic)/MWh) compared to the non-capture steam reforming case (33 (sic)/MWh) and MDEA and iron looping cases (about 42 (sic)/MWh). The calcium looping case has the lowest CO2 avoidance cost (10 (sic)/t) followed by iron looping (20 (sic)/t) and MDEA (31 (sic)/t) cases. (C) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study conducted a detailed techno-economic analysis of hydrogen production from biogas conversion, showing variations in energy efficiency, carbon capture rate, and cost among different designs. The calcium looping design was identified as the most favorable option.