Techno-economic analysis for the synthesis of liquid and gaseous fuels based on hydrogen production via electrolysis

The production of hydrogen from renewable sources by water electrolysis can be coupled to a downstream chemical synthesis. This enables the production of liquid fuels or chemical raw materials that can be used in today's infrastructure. However, it is not clear which synthesis technology fits best to the novel boundary conditions for chemical plants (e.g. small scale, flexible operation). In order to identify the most promising syntheses, different one-stage synthesis systems are evaluated in terms of technology, economics and acceptance. The analysis gives in all cases production costs that are significantly above today's market prices. Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis routes are expected to have a higher public acceptance compared to the other technologies due to the high product similarity to conventional energy carriers (diesel, crude oil). The economic feasibility of synthetic natural gas (SNG) production suffers from the low product price of natural gas as a benchmark, but its technical score is high. Methanol production is identified as the synthesis technology that achieves the highest overall score. The analysis shows that not only techno-economic parameters, but also parameters representing the public acceptance like the fit to the existing infrastructure, have to be considered to identify appropriate technologies that may play a role in future energy systems. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.