Comparative economic and environmental analysis of hydrogen supply chains in South Korea: Imported liquid hydrogen, ammonia, and domestic blue hydrogen

The demand for hydrogen in South Korea is projected to reach 3.9 Mt by 2030, of which 2.96 Mt clean hydrogen is aimed by 2030. As such, we conduct an economic analysis of a low greenhouse gas emission hydrogen supply chain in South Korea using several H2 transportation methods in this study. The types of supply chains considered are green and blue ammonia; green and blue liquid hydrogen (LH2) imported from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region; and blue hydrogen produced in South Korea. A base-case analysis shows that the imported blue ammonia scenario is the most cost-effective option with 3.40 USD/kgH2, followed by the domestic blue hydrogen with 4.33 USD/kgH2, and imported green ammonia with 4.56 USD/kgH2. In environmental analysis, imported green ammonia shows the lowest CO2 footprint with 4.20 kgCO2/kgH2, followed by imported green LH2 with 6.26 kgCO2/kgH2, and domestic blue hydrogen with 7.34 kgCO2/kgH2.