Hydrogen demand is rapidly increasing with significant concerns of the environmental and economic viability of fossil-derived hydrogen production. Alternative, sustainable pathways for hydrogen production through biobased feedstocks and technologies have been studied and evaluated. Biomass resources, including agricultural and forestry residues, dedicated energy crops, municipal solid waste, and algae, offer a range of feedstocks for hydrogen production. These feedstocks can be converted through thermochemical, biological, and electrochemical processes, such as gasification, pyrolysis, fermentation, and electrolysis. Each biomass resource presents advantages. For example, agricultural residues like corn stover and wheat straw demonstrate significant promise due to their abundant availability. Similarly, algae stands out for the rapid growth rates and high hydrogen production potential (150 million tons per year) (Department of Energy & Langholtz, 2023). Emerging technologies, such as plasma catalysis, photoelectrochemical water splitting, and photobiological systems, highlight their potential for biobased hydrogen productions. To secure the sustainability of resource-energy-environment nexus, integrating renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower into these hydrogen production processes is essential to reduce environmental impacts and production costs. Idaho, in particular, offers opportunities for large-scale hydrogen production leveraging its robust hydropower and nuclear energy resources to achieve efficient and sustainable hydrogen production. This study focuses on exploring the potential of various feedstocks and technologies to mitigate the environmental impacts of bio-hydrogen production. A comparison of the global warming potential (GWP) between biobased hydrogen production and conventional steam methane reforming shows that biobased hydrogen production has a GWP of 0.4 kg CO₂-eq/kg H₂, significantly lower than the 10 kg CO₂-eq/kg H₂ associated with methane reforming (Arfan, 2023; Valente, 2020). Furthermore, the biochemical conversion technologies show the GWP ranging from 1.0 to 5.59 CO₂-eq/kg H₂, which is lower than thermochemical processes with 13.7 CO₂-eq/kg H₂ (Hajjaji, 2016). Additionally, biobased hydrogen production results in lower acidification potential (AP), ozone layer depletion potential (OLDP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical oxidant formation potential (POFP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and ecotoxicity potential (ETP) by up to 90% compared to conventional fossil fuel derived hydrogen productions.
Keywords: Hydrogen, Biomass, Global Warming Potential, Biochemical, Thermochemical
References
Arfan, M., Eriksson, O., Wang, Z., & Soam, S. (2023). Life cycle assessment and life cycle costing of hydrogen production from biowaste and biomass in Sweden. Energy Conversion and Management, 291, 117262.
Hajjaji, N., Martinez, S., Trably, E., Steyer, J.-P., & Helias, A. (2016). Life cycle assessment of hydrogen production from biogas reforming. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 41(13), 6064-6076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.03.006
Langholtz, M. H., Davis, M., Hellwinckel, C., De La Torre Ugarte, D., Efroymson, R., Jacobson, R., Walker, L., et al. (2024). 2023 Billion-Ton Report: An Assessment of US Renewable Carbon Resources.
Valente, A., Iribarren, D., & Dufour, J. (2020). Prospective carbon footprint comparison of hydrogen options. Science of The Total Environment, 728, 138212.
