Process Engineering Analysis of Transport Options for Green Hydrogen and Green Hydrogen Derivatives

The transition of the German economy and energy system toward CO2 neutrality
requires large quantities of climate-friendly chemical energy carriers, such as green
hydrogen, to be imported. The decision on the most favorable import routes must
consider its energy efficiency To respect the remaining CO2 budget to achieve the
1.5° climate target, the implementation time and therefore additional evaluation
criteria must be taken into account. In this article, as a first step, the energy
utilization rate (ηH2,Hi ) for different hydrogen import options is evaluated. Starting
off from hydrogen at 25 °C and 25 bar produced in the exporting country, liquid
hydrogen, ammonia, liquid methane (Green LNG), methanol, and liquid organic
hydrogen carrier are considered as chemical energy carries. Liquid hydrogen is in
future the most efficient import option (ηH2,Hi =7%) when gaseous hydrogen is
supplied in the importing country. When direct utilization of the H2 derivatives
is considered, the ammonia import route has the highest energy utilization rate
with 77%. If point sources for CO2 are considered, direct utilization of methanol
(ηH2,Hi =83%) and Green LNG (ηH2,Hi =76%) are energetically favorable import
... mehr
options. Additional significant criteria for a technological assessment are maturity
of technologies, available capacities, infrastructures, and production processes.