Volume 45: Energy Transitions toward Carbon Neutrality: Part VIII

Techno-economic evaluation of hydrogen production for airport hubs Mohammed Taha, Nick Lundvall, Konstantinos Kyprianidis, Awais Salman, Stavros Vouros, Valentina Zaccaria

Abstract

Hydrogen is considered one of the most promising alternative fuels for aviation, which can be used to power aircraft and airport ground services. Onsite hydrogen production from renewables can be suitable for small-size airports, while the larger size airports can be supplied through transportation either from dedicated green hydrogen production plants or other sources of hydrogen. This paper presents a study of two hydrogen supply scenarios, one taking the small airport of Stockholm Skavsta as a case study for in-house hydrogen production. The second is evaluating offshore green hydrogen supply to the large size airport of Arlanda. The in-house hydrogen production evaluates 18 scenarios covering all possible scenarios for alkaline, PEM, and solid oxide electrolysis as production means and compressed, cryo-compressed, and liquid gas as storage, with power supply from grid and grid plus in-house solar system. The optimum production and storage facility size is determined in association with the levelized cost and carbon emissions for each scenario. For the large-size airport, the study evaluates the hydrogen supply from offshore production facilities transported as compressed, cryo-compressed, or liquid gas via offshore pipeline and onshore pipeline, Offshore pipeline and truck, Ship and onshore pipeline, or Ship and truck. The results showed the levelized cost to be between 2.93 – 2.44 Euro/kg H2 in the case of in-house production. Compressed hydrogen offshore and onshore pipeline is the least cost for Arlanda airport hydrogen supply. This paper demonstrates a direction for aviation sector decarbonization and establishes a pathway for airports’ in-house hydrogen production and outsourced hydrogen supply.

Keywords Hydrogen, Hydrogen for aviation, Electrolysis systems, Hydrogen inhouse production.