Enabling Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen Transportation Through a Cost-Effective Co2/Heat Looping Strategy

Abstract

Despite its crucial role in renewable energy networks, hydrogen transportation incurs elevated costs and high carbon intensity. To enable affordable low-carbon hydrogen, this study examined a CO2/heat looping strategy to mitigate direct and indirect carbon emissions. The hydrogen transportation superstructure was analyzed, involving base cases (i.e., LH2, LNH3, MeOH, formic acid, and dimethyl ether) and various combinations of hydrogen and CO2/heat dual carriers (i.e., CaO, ZnO, Li2O, and MgO.) Additionally, a case study was conducted on large-scale overseas transportation from Australia to Korea. The results showed a considerable decrease in cost and carbon emissions through the integration of CO2/heat looping. Particularly, the MeOH-ZnO route using the CO2/heat looping system showed substantial improvement, achieving a carbon intensity (CI) reduction to 15.54 kgCO2-eq/kgH2 (i.e., 46% lower than that of the MeOH route), with a cost of 6.0 USD/kgH2. In the projected 2050 scenario, employing the CO2/heat looping system further reduced CI to as low as 0.7 kgCO2-eq/kgH2 and a cost of up to 4.6 USD/kgH2, despite the use of costly renewable heat and direct air carbon capture. Integrating the CO2/heat looping system thus facilitates affordable, greener hydrogen transport, crucial for a sustainable energy economy.

Keywords: transportation of hydrogen, CO2 looping system, hydrogenation, decarbonization, energy carriers, hydrogen storage.