Multi-hub hydrogen refueling station with on-site and centralized production

In recent decades, the consequences of climate changes due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have become ever more impactful, forcing international authorities to find green solutions for sustainable economic development. In this regard, one of the global targets is the reduction of fossil fuels utilization in the transport sector to encourage the diffusion of more environmentally friendly alternatives. Among them, hydrogen is emerging as a viable candidate since it is a potentially emission-free fuel when produced by exploiting renew-able energy sources (RES). Nevertheless, to allow widespread use of this gas in the trans-port sector, several technoeconomic barriers, including production cost, and lack of distribution and storage infrastructure, have to be overcome. Distributed hydrogen pro-duction via renewable energy-powered electrolysis could be an effective solution to reduce cost and lead to economies of scale. In this study a multi-hub configuration with on-site production from PV-powered electrolysis and centralized production from steam methane reforming (SMR) is proposed. In particular, an infrastructure network for a bus refueling station located in Lazio is considered as a case study. First, each hub, composed of PV panels, an electrolyzer, a compression system, high-pressure and low-pressure storages, and hydrogen dispensers with chiller, is modeled in a Matlab/Simulink envi-ronment. Then, a design perturbation analysis is carried out to determine the impact of the configuration on the refueling station performance in terms of carbon emissions levels and the Levelized Cost of hydrogen (LCOH). The results show a significant influence of the station size on the economic performance highlighting significant benefits (reduction up to 40% in the LCOH) for a 80 bus HUB with a saturating trend towards larger sizes. CO2 emissions per unit mass of hydrogen are kept limited for all the stations thanks to the synergistic effects of SMR and Electrolyzer. Interconnecting more than one station each other further benefits can be achieved from the environmental perspective (savings up to 5 tons of CO2 are demonstrated for a typical summer case study).& COPY; 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In recent decades, the impacts of climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions have become more severe, prompting international authorities to seek green solutions for sustainable economic development. One such solution is the reduction of fossil fuel usage in the transportation sector, with hydrogen emerging as a promising alternative due to its potential as an emission-free fuel when produced using renewable energy sources. However, there are several barriers to overcome, including production costs and the lack of distribution and storage infrastructure. This study proposes a multi-hub configuration for hydrogen production, combining on-site PV-powered electrolysis and centralized steam methane reforming. The results show that the size of the refueling station significantly affects economic performance, with larger stations offering greater benefits such as a reduction of up to 40% in the Levelized Cost of hydrogen. The synergistic effects of SMR and electrolyzer enable limited CO2 emissions per unit mass of hydrogen, and interconnecting multiple stations can further enhance environmental benefits.