“Hydrogen Production from Integrated Biogas Production Process in Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell – Econometris Analysis”
A Dissertation presented to the Democritus University of Thrace for the Award of the M.Eng. Degree in Environmental Engineering
Summary
In the present thesis the hydrogen production in an integrated biogas plant was fully investigated, using renewable raw materials (energy maize and animal waste) through biogas assisted electrolysis. The target was to assess the functionality and the economic feasibility of such a unit.
For this purpose, the flow diagram of a biogas-to-hydrogen unit was designed and the corresponding operational parameters were calculated, for 9 different biogas production capacities. Such a unit can replace the cogeneration system of the conventional biogas plants.
The economic viability of the project was then examined by estimating the selling prices of the hydrogen produced, for which the proposed on-site production would have the same economic viability prospects, as the conventional solution of biogas cogeneration for the same biogas capacities.
In this context, three economic criteria Net present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Payout Time (POT) were used.
The results showed that the proposed solution can achieve the same excellent values, for these three criteria, with the conventional cogeneration plants, for hydrogen selling prices of the same order with the selling prices of small distributed hydrogen generation from natural gas and the prices at which hydrogen fuel could be commercialized.
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