GIS-based analysis of hydrogen production from geothermal electricity using CO2 as working fluid in Algeria

• Quantification and identification of spatial locations of CO2 emission sources.
• Creation of maps of CO2 sources, geothermal potential and energy demand using GIS.
• GIS based analysis to determine the suitable locations of system implementation.
• Evaluation of electricity, hydrogen production and economic analysis is presented.

Large reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Electric power plants and refineries were the largest CO2 emission sources in Algeria. One option to reduce CO2 emissions is carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), which can be used to generate electricity with processes of geothermal heat extraction. The objective of this study is to analyse the spatial distribution of CO2 emission sources, and to identify the most suitable locations for integrating this technology. For these suitable locations, dioxide carbon emissions were quantified. This quantification is used to evaluate the potential for both electric and hydrogen production and to estimate the levelized cost of electrolytic hydrogen. For this reason, Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology with combining several criteria is used. These criteria include spatially varied CO2 emission sources, potential geothermic and demand of electrical energy (considering the existing production sources and the consumption of electrical energy for each city). GIS is used for creating new multi-layer information. It also offers a highly flexible, easily updateable database and display tool that facilitates the spatial analyses. As a result, the most suitable areas were located extensively in northeast and southwest part of Algeria. The northeast site was characterised by geothermal gradient of 6 °C/100 m and has the most important electric and hydrogen potential, while in the second site the electric and hydrogen production is low than the first. In addition, the cost of hydrogen production at the northeast site is more competitive.