Techno-Economical Assessment for Combined Production of Hydrogen, Heat, and Power from Residual Lignocellulosic Agricultural Biomass in Huesca Province (Spain)

Nowadays, great emphasis is rightly given in the scientific community to hydrogen production from electrolysis. However, to achieve the politically stated target ambitions, all low-carbon sources for hydrogen production must be considered. The present work proposes a local produc-tion system of negative carbon hydrogen from lignocellulosic residual biomass using gasifica-tion and gas separation through H2-selective membranes as enabling technologies. The feed-stock is pruning. In addition, the system produces heat and power for a Renewable Energy Community (REC) to increase the economic feasibility of hydrogen production by their sale. A modular basic plant is sized, based on a simplified system envisaged for RECs by the current regulatory framework in Spain (electrical renewable output of 100 kW). A network of these modular basic plants in the province of Huesca (Aragón) is simulated to create a system of hy-drogen refueling stations for mobility in that area. A Levelized Cost Of Hydrogen (LCOH) is proposed, comprehending the whole production chain from “field to tank”, that is significant in those areas where there is no infrastructure for the production and distribution of hydrogen for automotive purposes. The resulting LCOH for the whole system is 8.90 €/kg. A sensitivity analy-sis values potential lower LCOH, which unveils hydrogen mobility largely competitive with diesel one.