IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v299y2024ics0360544224013264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exergetic life cycle assessment for green hydrogen production

Author

Listed:
  • Gerhardt-Mörsdorf, Janis
  • Incer-Valverde, Jimena
  • Morosuk, Tatiana
  • Minke, Christine

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method for assessing the environmental impacts of products and processes. The life cycle inventory provides a measure of the quantitative throughput of a process, but it cannot measure the intrinsic quality of that throughput. Exergy is a measure of the quantity and quality of energy. When combining LCA and exergy analysis in an exergy-based life cycle assessment (ExLCA) a powerful tool for the quantification of resource efficiency can be established. This study performs a detailed bottom-up cradle-to-grave ExLCA based on cumulative exergy consumption and exergy analysis of the use phase for a state-of-the-art (SoA) and a future plant 5 MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer plant. Three scenarios are implemented, i.e. SoA plant operated in the German grid mix of 2018, SoA plant operated in a defossilized grid, and a future plant operated in a defossilized grid. In every scenario, more than 98 % of the resource demand originates from electricity generation alone and decreases significantly with renewable electricity operation. In plant construction, the anode catalyst material iridium causes approximately half of the resource demand and bears the largest lever for the resource reduction potential of the plant construction of 65 %.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerhardt-Mörsdorf, Janis & Incer-Valverde, Jimena & Morosuk, Tatiana & Minke, Christine, 2024. "Exergetic life cycle assessment for green hydrogen production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:299:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224013264
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.131553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544224013264
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2024.131553?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morosuk, Tatiana & Tsatsaronis, George, 2019. "Splitting physical exergy: Theory and application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 698-707.
    2. Mitja Mori & Rok Stropnik & Mihael Sekavčnik & Andrej Lotrič, 2021. "Criticality and Life-Cycle Assessment of Materials Used in Fuel-Cell and Hydrogen Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-29, March.
    3. Szargut, Jan, 1989. "Chemical exergies of the elements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 269-286.
    4. Jan Christian Koj & Christina Wulf & Andrea Schreiber & Petra Zapp, 2017. "Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Bareiß, Kay & de la Rua, Cristina & Möckl, Maximilian & Hamacher, Thomas, 2019. "Life cycle assessment of hydrogen from proton exchange membrane water electrolysis in future energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 862-872.
    6. Stanek, Wojciech & Czarnowska, Lucyna, 2018. "Thermo-ecological cost – Szargut's proposal on exergy and ecology connection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 1050-1059.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Hache, Emmanuel & D'Herbemont, Vincent & Guyot, Mathis & Malbec, Louis-Marie, 2023. "Hydrogen development in Europe: Estimating material consumption in net zero emissions scenarios," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Levin Matz & Boris Bensmann & Richard Hanke-Rauschenbach & Christine Minke, 2024. "Resource-Efficient Gigawatt Water Electrolysis in Germany—A Circular Economy Potential Analysis," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 1153-1182, June.
    3. Olusegun David Samuel & Peter A. Aigba & Thien Khanh Tran & H. Fayaz & Carlo Pastore & Oguzhan Der & Ali Erçetin & Christopher C. Enweremadu & Ahmad Mustafa, 2023. "Comparison of the Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment of Hydrodynamic Cavitation and Mechanical Stirring Reactors for the Production of Sustainable Hevea brasiliensis Ethyl Ester," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-27, November.
    4. Stanek, Wojciech & Czarnowska, Lucyna, 2018. "Thermo-ecological cost – Szargut's proposal on exergy and ecology connection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 1050-1059.
    5. Andrea Dumančić & Nela Vlahinić Lenz & Lahorko Wagmann, 2024. "Profitability Model of Green Hydrogen Production on an Existing Wind Power Plant Location," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-23, February.
    6. Peralta-Ruiz, Y. & González-Delgado, A.-D. & Kafarov, V., 2013. "Evaluation of alternatives for microalgae oil extraction based on exergy analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 226-236.
    7. Negar Shaya & Simon Glöser-Chahoud, 2024. "A Review of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Studies for Hydrogen Production Technologies through Water Electrolysis: Recent Advances," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Chen, B. & Chen, G.Q., 2007. "Modified ecological footprint accounting and analysis based on embodied exergy--a case study of the Chinese society 1981-2001," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 355-376, March.
    9. Hao, Xiaoqing & An, Haizhong & Qi, Hai & Gao, Xiangyun, 2016. "Evolution of the exergy flow network embodied in the global fossil energy trade: Based on complex network," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1515-1522.
    10. Dong, Lijun & Kang, Xiaojun & Pan, Mengqi & Zhao, Man & Zhang, Feng & Yao, Hong, 2020. "B-matching-based optimization model for energy allocation in sea surface monitoring," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    11. Chen, G.Q. & Qi, Z.H., 2007. "Systems account of societal exergy utilization: China 2003," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 208(2), pages 102-118.
    12. Primabudi, Eko & Morosuk, Tatiana & Tsatsaronis, George, 2019. "Multi-objective optimization of propane pre-cooled mixed refrigerant (C3MR) LNG process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 492-504.
    13. Khalili-Garakani, Amirhossein & Ivakpour, Javad & Kasiri, Norollah, 2016. "Evolutionary synthesis of optimum light ends recovery unit with exergy analysis application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 507-522.
    14. Sarah Hamdy & Francisco Moser & Tatiana Morosuk & George Tsatsaronis, 2019. "Exergy-Based and Economic Evaluation of Liquefaction Processes for Cryogenics Energy Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, February.
    15. Yadav, Deepak & Banerjee, Rangan, 2020. "Net energy and carbon footprint analysis of solar hydrogen production from the high-temperature electrolysis process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    16. Charalampos Michalakakis & Jeremy Fouillou & Richard C. Lupton & Ana Gonzalez Hernandez & Jonathan M. Cullen, 2021. "Calculating the chemical exergy of materials," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(2), pages 274-287, April.
    17. Desantes, J.M. & Novella, R. & Pla, B. & Lopez-Juarez, M., 2021. "Impact of fuel cell range extender powertrain design on greenhouse gases and NOX emissions in automotive applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    18. Leonhard Povacz & Ramchandra Bhandari, 2023. "Analysis of the Levelized Cost of Renewable Hydrogen in Austria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-23, March.
    19. Nguyen, Tuong-Van & Fülöp, Tamás Gábor & Breuhaus, Peter & Elmegaard, Brian, 2014. "Life performance of oil and gas platforms: Site integration and thermodynamic evaluation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 282-301.
    20. Jhang, Syu-Ruei & Lin, Yuan-Chung & Chen, Kang-Shin & Lin, Sheng-Lun & Batterman, Stuart, 2020. "Evaluation of fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and well-to-wheel GHGs assessment from a vehicle operation fueled with bioethanol, gasoline and hydrogen," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:299:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224013264. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.