Life Cycle Assessment of Improved High Pressure Alkaline Electrolysis

Koj, Jan Christian; Schreiber, Andrea; Zapp, Petra; Marcuello, Pablo

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.576

Cited by 40 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…We compile raw material cost for each storage technology by multiplying reported material inventories [45][46][47][48][49] with commodity prices. Commodity prices are drawn from peer reviewed literature 10 , the Bloomberg database 50 , a bottom-up engineering model 21 and a range of commercial and academic websites (see Supplementary Table 3).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future cost of electrical energy storage based on experience rates

et al. 2017

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Electrical energy storage could play a pivotal role in future low-carbon electricity systems, balancing inflexible or intermittent supply with demand. Cost projections are important for understanding this role, but data are scarce and uncertain. Here, we construct experience curves to project future prices for 11 electrical energy storage technologies. We find that, regardless of technology, capital costs are on a trajectory towards US$340±60/kWh for installed stationary systems and US$175±25/kWh for battery packs once 1 TWh of capacity is installed for each technology. Bottom-up assessment of material and production costs indicates this price range is not infeasible. Cumulative investments of $175-510bn would be needed for any technology to reach 1 TWh deployment, which could be achieved by 2027-2040 based on market growth projections. We then explore how the derived rates of future cost reduction influence when storage becomes economically competitive in transport and residential applications. Thus, our experience curve dataset removes a barrier for further study by industry, policymakers and academics.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future cost of electrical energy storage based on experience rates

et al. 2017

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“…For operation, essential upstream products beside electricity comprise deionized water, KOH solution, process steam, and nitrogen. Koj et al (2015) analyzed and defined key technical plant parameters for an advanced commercial scale 6 MW AWE plant in comparison to a 3.5 MW state-of-the-art pressurized electrolysis. In contrast, the new developed electrolysis plant uses advanced polymer-based membranes.…”

Section: Technology and Plant Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, selling the by-product O2 is not considered, as large-scale deployment of electrolysis capacities may go along with market saturation for O2 and strongly decreasing prices (Hermann et al, 2014). Table 2 shows the plant characteristics, and the functional unit is the physical output of 1 kg H2 at 33 bar and 40°C (Koj et al, 2015).…”

Section: Technology and Plant Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most cases, these assessments focus on typical cost components such as investment, operation and maintenance (O&M), and decommissioning, which are commonly called technology cost (Bertuccioli et al, 2014;Noack et al, 2015). For new AWEs, which may be based on novel polymer-based membrane concepts (Koj et al, 2015), it is of prime importance that development comes along with new configurations and technical and economic key process parameters for AWE that might be of interest for further economic assessments.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Economic Analysis of Improved Alkaline Water Electrolysis

2017

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Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is a mature hydrogen production technology and there exists a range of economic assessments for available technologies. For advanced AWEs, which may be based on novel polymer-based membrane concepts, it is of prime importance that development comes along with new configurations and technical and economic key process parameters for AWE that might be of interest for further economic assessments. This paper presents an advanced AWE technology referring to three different sites in Europe (Germany, Austria, and Spain). The focus is on financial metrics, the projection of key performance parameters of advanced AWEs, and further financial and tax parameters. For financial analysis from an investor's (business) perspective, a comprehensive assessment of a technology not only comprises cost analysis but also further financial analysis quantifying attractiveness and supply/market flexibility. Therefore, based on cash flow (CF) analysis, a comprehensible set of metrics may comprise levelised cost of energy or, respectively, levelized cost of hydrogen (LCH) for cost assessment, net present value (NPV) for attractiveness analysis, and variable cost (VC) for analysis of market flexibility. The German AWE site turns out to perform best in all three financial metrics (LCH, NPV, and VC). Though there are slight differences in investment cost and operation and maintenance cost projections for the three sites, the major cost impact is due to the electricity cost. Although investment cost is slightly lower and labor cost is significantly lower in Spain, the difference can not outweigh the higher electricity cost compared to Germany. Given the assumption that the electrolysis operators are customers directly and actively participating in power markets, and based on the regulatory framework in the three countries, in this special case electricity cost in Germany is lowest. However, as electricity cost is profoundly influenced by political decisions as well as the implementation of economic instruments for transforming electricity systems toward sustainability, it is hardly possible to further improve electricity price forecasts.

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“…The scope of some of these studies ends at the (re)fueling stations [5,6] while several studies additionally take utilization for fuel cell electric vehicles into account [7][8][9][10]. However, there are also several LCA studies focusing solely on the environmental impact assessment of hydrogen production without considering subsequent steps (e.g., [11,12]). The common goal of all these studies is to find the most sustainable option with regard to minimizing resources, emissions and costs [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis

et al. 2017

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Industrial hydrogen production via alkaline water electrolysis (AEL) is a mature hydrogen production method. One argument in favor of AEL when supplied with renewable energy is its environmental superiority against conventional fossil-based hydrogen production. However, today electricity from the national grid is widely utilized for industrial applications of AEL. Also, the ban on asbestos membranes led to a change in performance patterns, making a detailed assessment necessary. This study presents a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using the GaBi software (version 6.115, thinkstep, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany), revealing inventory data and environmental impacts for industrial hydrogen production by latest AELs (6 MW, Zirfon membranes) in three different countries (Austria, Germany and Spain) with corresponding grid mixes. The results confirm the dependence of most environmental effects from the operation phase and specifically the site-dependent electricity mix. Construction of system components and the replacement of cell stacks make a minor contribution. At present, considering the three countries, AEL can be operated in the most environmentally friendly fashion in Austria. Concerning the construction of AEL plants the materials nickel and polytetrafluoroethylene in particular, used for cell manufacturing, revealed significant contributions to the environmental burden.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Improved High Pressure Alkaline Electrolysis

Cited by 40 publications

References 2 publications

The future cost of electrical energy storage based on experience rates

The future cost of electrical energy storage based on experience rates

Economic Analysis of Improved Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis

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