Techno-Economic Analysis of Territorial Case Studies for the Integration of Biorefineries and Green Hydrogen

Aristide Giuliano (), Heinz Stichnothe, Nicola Pierro and Isabella De Bari
Additional contact information
Aristide Giuliano: ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, S.S. 106 Ionica, km 419+500, 75026 Rotondella, MT, Italy
Heinz Stichnothe: Thünen Institute of Forestry, Leuschnerstrasse 91, 21031 Hamburg, Germany
Nicola Pierro: ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, S.S. 106 Ionica, km 419+500, 75026 Rotondella, MT, Italy
Isabella De Bari: ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, S.S. 106 Ionica, km 419+500, 75026 Rotondella, MT, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: To achieve sustainable development, the transition from a fossil-based economy to a circular economy is essential. The use of renewable energy sources to make the overall carbon foot print more favorable is an important pre-requisite. In this context, it is crucial to valorize all renewable resources through an optimized local integration. One opportunity arises through the synergy between bioresources and green hydrogen. Through techno-economic assessments, this work analyzes four local case studies that integrate bio-based processes with green hydrogen produced via electrolysis using renewable energy sources. An analysis of the use of webGIS tools (i.e., Atlas of Biorefineries of IEA Bioenergy) to identify existing biorefineries that require hydrogen in relation to territories with a potential availability of green hydrogen, has never been conducted before. This paper provides an evaluation of the production costs of the target products as a function of the local green hydrogen supply costs. The results revealed that the impact of green hydrogen costs could vary widely, ranging from 1% to 95% of the total production costs, depending on the bio-based target product evaluated. Additionally, hydrogen demand in the target area could require an installed variable renewable energy capacity of 20 MW and 500 MW. On the whole, the local integration of biorefineries and green hydrogen could represent an optimal opportunity to make hydrogenated bio-based products 100% renewable.

Keywords: green hydrogen; georeferential data; territorial integration; techno-economic assessment; bioproduct production cost; biogenic CO 2 utilization; biomethane; hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids; alkyl phenols; sustainable aviation fuels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/5966/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/5966/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:5966-:d:1530928

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().