Techno-Economic Feasibility of Distributed Waste-to-Hydrogen Systems to Support Green Transport in Glasgow

Significant greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions from fossil-fuelled transport call for alternative green transport fuels like hydrogen. Biomass waste is a low carbon source for hydrogen production via various thermochemical and biochemical technologies. As a result, distributed Waste to Hydrogen (WtH) systems are a potential solution to tackle the twin challenges of sustainable waste management and transport. In this work, a novel concept of distributed WtH systems based on gasification/fermentation to support hydrogen fuel cell buses in Glasgow was proposed. The system configurations of WtH systems were identified for the different technology routes, based on hydrogen production process modelling that includes the choice of biomass waste feedstock, hydrogen production reactors, and upstream and downstream system components. In the process modelling, the impacts of operating conditions on the hydrogen production were evaluated to develop the optimal process parameters based on maximum hydrogen yields. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted to evaluate the economic feasibility of the systems, based on the accumulation of a systematic database including direct cost data on construction, maintenance, operations, materials, transport and storage, along with indirect cost data comprising environmental impacts and externalities, cost of pollution, carbon taxes and subsidies. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the most significant factors determining the profitability of distributed WtH systems supporting hydrogen fuel cell buses in Glasgow.