Hydrogen transport options for a large industrial user: Analysis on costs, efficiency, and GHG emissions in steel mills

The planned steel industry shift from fossil-based production to low carbon alternatives will require millions of tons of hydrogen. Hydrogen delivery to large users calls for building of new infrastructures. This study analyses five different hydrogen delivery pathways including mill-site electrolysis, pipeline transport of hydrogen in new and repurposed pipelines, pipeline transport of synthetic methane, and shipping of various products. Costs, energy efficiency, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are evaluated using a steel mill consuming 144 kt of hydrogen as an example. The results suggest that mill-site electrolysis and both the hydrogen pipeline transport alternative seemed to be the best performers among the studied cases. Pipeline transport of synthetic methane and shipping have around 130 % and 40 % higher costs in comparison to mill-site hydrogen production and pipeline transport of hydrogen. Their energy efficiencies were the least appealing. Greenhouse gas emissions of the studied cases varies between 7.7 and 13.7 kgCO2-eq/kgH2. The synthetic methane could provide a significant carbon sink, if only renewables are utilized in hydrogen production, but due to high cost and poor energy efficiency it can still be regarded as an unfeasible route. It can be concluded that there are notable differences between transport options, and significant uncertainties on how large-scale hydrogen demand should be handled exist.