Feasibility of geothermal power assisted hydrogen production in Iran

Geothermal energy is a form of renewable energy which, unlike other sources of this kind, is always available and can be used continuously without interruption. Furthermore, the environmental pollution caused by its exploitation is far less than that created by conventional fossil fuels. Meanwhile, hydrogen has an extensive application in production of petroleum and petrochemical products and is therefore an important element of Iran's oil and gas reliant industry and economy. This paper studied the potential of different provinces of Iran for producing hydrogen by a water electrolyzer using the electricity generated from a geothermal source. This objective was pursued by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to rank and prioritize the provinces, which were modeled as decision-making units. Validity of the results obtained through this analysis was assessed by comparing them with results of the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR). VIKOR appeared in the year 1990 from Serbian language: Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje that means: Multicriteria Optimization and Compromise Solution. In this DEA model, the decision criteria were 13 measurable parameters, of which 5 were considered as input variables and 8 as output variables, and as mentioned above its decision-making units were the 14 Iranian provinces. The results showed that East-Azerbaijan, Bushehr and Hormozgan have the highest priority and Kerman and Sistan-Baluchistan have the lowest priority for hydrogen production via geothermal power assisted water electrolysis. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.