Techno-Economic Analysis of Onsite Sustainable Hydrogen Production via Ammonia Decomposition with Heat Recovery System

Jian Tiong Lim, Eddie Yin-Kwee Ng () and Hong Xun Ong
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Jian Tiong Lim: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Eddie Yin-Kwee Ng: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Hong Xun Ong: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-22

Abstract: Hydrogen offers a promising solution to reduce emissions in the energy sector with the growing need for decarbonisation. Despite its environmental benefits, the use of hydrogen presents significant challenges in storage and transport. Many studies have focused on the different types of hydrogen production and analysed the pros and cons of each technique for different applications. This study focuses on techno-economic analysis of onsite hydrogen production through ammonia decomposition by utilising the heat from exhaust gas generated by hydrogen-fuelled gas turbines. Aspen Plus simulation software and its economic evaluation system are used. The Siemens Energy SGT-400 gas turbine’s parameters are used as the baseline for the hydrogen gas turbine in this study, together with the economic parameters of the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) are considered. The levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH) is found to be 5.64 USD/kg of hydrogen, which is 10.6% lower than that of the conventional method, where a furnace is used to increase the temperature of ammonia. A major contribution of the LCOH comes from the ammonia feed cost up to 99%. The price of ammonia is found to be the most sensitive parameter of the contribution to LCOH. The findings of this study show that the use of ammonia decomposition via heat recovery for onsite hydrogen production with ammonic recycling is economically viable and highlight the critical need to further reduce the prices of green ammonia and blue ammonia in the future.

Keywords: hydrogen production; ammonia decomposition; techno-economic analysis; hydrogen-fuelled gas turbine; convective heat transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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