Life cycle assessment of biomass-based hydrogen production technologies: A review

ABSTRACTThe increasing detrimental effect of conventional hydrocarbon fuels is leading scientists to explore hydrogen as sustainable energy fuel to meet the growing global energy needs. By 2030, the global demand for hydrogen is expected to increase to 180 million tonnes. Hydrogen can generate more energy per mass in comparison to conventional energy sources and is considered one of the cleanest fuels. Hydrogen has an exceptionally higher heating value ranging from 120 MJ/kg to 141. 8 MJ/kg at 298 K. Hydrogen production is done from fossil fuel, biomass, and electrolysis through technologies like thermo-chemical, biomass gasification, water electrolysis, and solar splitting. Currently, hydrogen is generated by biomass gasification, steam methane reforming, and coal gasification. Almost 80% of the hydrogen production technologies are focused on steam conversion via fossil fuel and almost 70% of them are carried out by natural gas steam reforming. However, the assessment of the environmental impacts of all these methods is an essential factor to be considered for production purposes. In this paper, different hydrogen production methods are discussed. The environmental impacts of hydrogen production techniques were also assessed. In this work, an evaluation of the lifecycle assessments of several hydrogen generation technologies has been done. It was observed that biomass conversion to hydrogen is an environmentally benign process than other production methods. A comparison of the efficiency of several hydrogen-producing techniques along with the cost of hydrogen produced per unit (/kg) has been performed in this study. KEYWORDS: Clean energyhydrogen productionlifecycle assessmentbiomasssustainable energy AcknowledgementsDr. Gaurav Pandey would like to acknowledge this work under the National project (1021110317891-3-2. 4. 2) from TSC SB-RAS at Earth Cryosphere Institute, Tyumen, Russia, and UPES-SHODH Grant program (ref: UPES/R&D/SHODH/202361). Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author (s). Additional informationNotes on contributorsSakshi SinghSakshi Singh has completed a Bachelor of Science in Geology and a Master of Science in Geology from Banasthali Vidhyapith, Rajasthan. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Technology in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. She has a research interest in hydrogen energy, CCUS, and CO2 storage in geological formation. Gaurav PandeyDr. Gaurav PANDEY is an Assistant Professor (senior scale) in Department of Petroleum Engineering & Earth Sciences, Energy Cluster, School of Advanced Engineering, at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun. He is also a Manager of the laboratory and serving as a Visiting Chief Scientist at Earth cryosphere Institute, Tyumen, Russia. He holds a joint PhD (2020) degree from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and National University of Singapore (NUS). He obtained M. Tech (2015) degree in Petroleum Engineering from IIT Madras. He received the prestigious "Bhagyalakshmi and Krishna Ayengar Award" for Best PhD thesis/project research work at IIT Madras in the field of alternative energy application. He also received the Institute Research (IR) Award for the recognition of Quality & Quantity research work conducted at IIT Madras. His research interests are in the areas of Clean energy, Sustainable energy, Clathrate (gas) hydrates, SNG, Hydrogen Energy, Energy storage, transport of fuels, Flow Assurance, Rheology, Carbon dioxide capture, storage & utilization (CCS & U), Enhanced Oil Recovery, Drilling fluids and Oil & gas nanotechnology. He published several peer reviewed papers in international journals and several conferences of international repute. He attended many conferences and gave the oral talk in USA, Singapore, Mauritius, Japan, Russia, Thailand and India (IIT and renowned colleges & university). He served as Session chair ICGH 10 at NUS Singapore and AOTULE Conference at Tokyo tech, Japan), He is a recipient of GATE scholarship during M. Tech (2013-2015), MHRD fellowship and NUS research scholarship during his PhD. He is a reviewer of Applied Energy, Gas Science and Engineering, Energy & Fuels and ACS Omega, Petroleum Science and Technology Journal. He is also a member of American Chemical Society and Society of Petroleum Engineers. His h-index and i-10 index is 10. Dr Pandey's student received the prestigious ACS COLL-PUI award under nanomaterials category for consecutive years 2022 and 2023. Gourav Kumar RathGourav Kumar Rath has completed a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from Indra Gandhi Institute of Technology, Dhenkanal, Odisha. Currently, He is pursuing a Master of Technology in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. He has a research interest in hydrogen energy, CO2 separation systems, and polymer application in oil and gas. Hari Prakash VeluswamyDr. Hari Prakash Veluswamy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Roorkee. He received PhD degree from NUS, Singapore and B. E (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from BITS, Pilani. He had worked as an Engineer in Flue Gas Desulphurization department of BHEL, Ranipet for three years. He received several awards including the Amar Dye Chem Award for Excellence in Research and Development in Chemical Engineering by IIChE in 2022, Highly commendable young chemical engineer in research award by IChemE Singapore in 2016, President's Graduate Fellowship by NUS for the exceptional promise and accomplishment in research during his PhD. His review papers on methane and hydrogen storage in clathrate hydrates have won 'Applied Energy Highly Cited Review Paper Award 2020' and '2015 Applied Energy Award' respectively. He has authored 41 papers in top tier journals of Chemical Engineering and Energy disciplines with a h-index of 25 and 2400+ citations (Scopus). His research interests include energy storage in hydrates, energy recovery, gas separation, desalination, carbon dioxide capture and sequestration. Nadezhda MolokitinaDr. Nadezhda Molokitina is currently scientist in Earth Cryosphere Institute Tyumen Scientific centre SB RAS and Director of programme in Advanced Engineering School Tyumen State University, Tyumen, Russia. She also served as Director at Earth Cryosphere Institute Tyumen Scientific centre in year 2022 and 2023.