Techno-economic assessment of hydrogen production based on dual fluidized bed biomass steam gasification, biogas steam reforming, and alkaline water electrolysis processes

The results of the economic assessment show that the DFB biomass steam gasification process has investment costs of 12.1 MEUR followed by the biogas steam reforming process with investment costs of 9.9 MEUR. The alkaline electrolysis process has investment costs of 4.4 MEUR. However, the after tax H2 break-even price of the DFB process is the lowest with 0.148 EUR kWh−1. The BSR process has an after tax H2 break-even price of 0.152 EUR kWh−1 and the AEL process has an after tax H2 break-even price of 0.191 EUR kWh−1. The net present value (NPV) calculations reveal that the BSR process has the highest NPV, followed by the AEL process and the DFB biomass steam gasification process. However, the NPV of all three processes are very similar. In general, all three H2 production processes perform at the same level based on the results of the process simulation and the chosen economic assumptions.