Large scale hydrogen production from wind energy for the upgrading of bitumen from oil sands

Babatunde Olateju, Joshua Monds and Amit Kumar

Applied Energy, 2014, vol. 118, issue C, 48-56

Abstract: There is considerable interest concerning sustainable, economically competitive and environmentally benign hydrogen production pathways. In this study, a large scale wind-hydrogen plant is assessed for the production of electrolytic hydrogen, for the servicing of the oil sands bitumen upgrading industry in Western Canada. The wind-hydrogen plant proposed has a capacity of 563MW, along with the dual functionality of hydrogen production and electricity generation; with the delivery of hydrogen to the bitumen upgrader via pipeline. The research carried out involved the development of a data intensive techno-economic model in tandem with a simulation model of the plant. Several plant configurations were assessed to determine the optimum electrolyzer size and quantity – which would translate into the minimum hydrogen production cost (including delivery). The optimal plant configuration consists of 80 units of the 3496kW (760Nm3/h) electrolyzer, which yields a minimum hydrogen production cost of $8.43 and $7.84/kg of H2 with and without delivery. Therefore, currently, hydrogen production from wind energy remains uncompetitive relative to conventional fossil fuel hydrogen pathways.

Keywords: Wind energy; Hydrogen; Oil sands; Bitumen ugrading; Techno-economic assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.12.013

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