We quantify the technical and environmental performance of clean hydrogen production (with CCS) by linking detailed process simulation with LCA.

Natural gas based hydrogen production with carbon capture and storage is referred to as blue hydrogen.

The use of biomass as a resource for hydrogen production can contribute to the transition towards carbon neutral or carbon negative energy systems. This paper offers a comprehensive investigation of...

This paper is written in response to the paper "How green is blue hydrogen?" by R. W. Howarth and M. Z. Jacobson. It aims at highlighting and discussing the

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<p>In the presented work, we performed an integrated techno-environmental assessment of hydrogen production from woody biomass gasification, combined with CO₂ capture and storage (CCS). We have included three different types of gasification technologies for syngas production. CO₂ is captured from the syngas with conventional amine-based technology. Based on our integrated approach linking detailed process simulation with Life Cycle Assessment, we are able to quantify benefits and potential trade-offs of a wide range of process configurations from both technical and environmental perspectives in a consistent way. We have also performed a comparative evaluation of hydrogen use in fuel cell electric vehicles (passenger cars and freight trucks), to investigate the role of hydrogen in decarbonizing the transport sector.</p>

Natural gas based hydrogen production with carbon capture and storage is referred to as blue hydrogen. If substantial amounts of CO2 from natural gas reforming are captured and permanently stored, such hydrogen could be a low-carbon energy carrier. However, recent research raises questions about the effective climate impacts of blue hydrogen from a life cycle perspective. Our analysis sheds light on the relevant issues and provides a balanced perspective on the impacts on climate change associated with blue hydrogen. We show that such impacts may indeed vary over large ranges and depend on only a few key parameters: the methane emission rate of the natural gas supply chain, the CO2 removal rate at the hydrogen production plant, and the global warming metric applied. State-of-the-art reforming with high CO2 capture rates combined with natural gas supply featuring low methane emissions does indeed allow for substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to both conventional natural gas reforming and direct combustion of natural gas. Under such conditions, blue hydrogen is compatible with low-carbon economies and features climate change impacts in line with green hydrogen from electrolysis supplied with renewable electricity. However, neither current blue nor green hydrogen production pathways render fully “net-zero” hydrogen without additional carbon dioxide removal.