Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible?
Limited access to freshwater is a barrier to implement water electrolysis processes regardless of the availability of renewable energy sources. The present work aims to evaluate the economic potential of green hydrogen production using high-quality water produced from alternative water sources. Spec...
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Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Energy Nexus |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772427125000981 |
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| author | Sergi Vinardell Jose Luis Cortina César Valderrama |
| author_facet | Sergi Vinardell Jose Luis Cortina César Valderrama |
| author_sort | Sergi Vinardell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Limited access to freshwater is a barrier to implement water electrolysis processes regardless of the availability of renewable energy sources. The present work aims to evaluate the economic potential of green hydrogen production using high-quality water produced from alternative water sources. Specifically, the study focuses on two scenarios where desalted water for the electrolyser is produced from either treated urban wastewater or seawater using membrane technologies. The results illustrated that the water reclamation scheme featured substantially lower costs (0.81–1.02 €/m3) than the seawater desalination plant (1.09–1.58 €/m3). However, implementing a water production process before the electrolyser only represented a minor impact (< 2.4 %) on the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) and specific energy consumption of the integrated system, even with water production costs as high as 10 €/m3. The contribution of the specific water consumption to the LCOH ranged between 0.10 and 1.80 % when considering water consumptions between 9 and 15 L/kgH2, respectively. The sensitivity analysis illustrated that the impact of water production on the LCOH was nearly negligible when compared with other operating factors, such as the electrolyser efficiency or the load factor. Overall, this study highlights that water production from alternative water sources has a minimal impact on the economic balance of the electrolyser, making it a viable option to support green hydrogen projects in water-scarce regions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-14d0180d1ffc43ef9e26f0f74932b7a7 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2772-4271 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energy Nexus |
| spelling | doaj-art-14d0180d1ffc43ef9e26f0f74932b7a72025-08-20T02:07:13ZengElsevierEnergy Nexus2772-42712025-06-011810045710.1016/j.nexus.2025.100457Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible?Sergi Vinardell0Jose Luis Cortina1César Valderrama2Chemical Engineering Department, Escola d’Enginyeria de Barcelona Est (EEBE), Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)-BarcelonaTECH, C/ Eduard Maristany 10-14, Barcelona 08930, Spain; Barcelona Research Center for Multiscale Science and Engineering, Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Barcelona 08930, Spain; Corresponding author at: Chemical Engineering Department, Escola d’Enginyeria de Barcelona Est (EEBE), Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)-BarcelonaTECH, C/ Eduard Maristany 10-14, Barcelona 08930, Spain.Chemical Engineering Department, Escola d’Enginyeria de Barcelona Est (EEBE), Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)-BarcelonaTECH, C/ Eduard Maristany 10-14, Barcelona 08930, Spain; Barcelona Research Center for Multiscale Science and Engineering, Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Barcelona 08930, Spain; CETaqua, Carretera d'Esplugues, 75, Cornellà de Llobregat 08940, SpainChemical Engineering Department, Escola d’Enginyeria de Barcelona Est (EEBE), Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)-BarcelonaTECH, C/ Eduard Maristany 10-14, Barcelona 08930, Spain; Barcelona Research Center for Multiscale Science and Engineering, Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Barcelona 08930, SpainLimited access to freshwater is a barrier to implement water electrolysis processes regardless of the availability of renewable energy sources. The present work aims to evaluate the economic potential of green hydrogen production using high-quality water produced from alternative water sources. Specifically, the study focuses on two scenarios where desalted water for the electrolyser is produced from either treated urban wastewater or seawater using membrane technologies. The results illustrated that the water reclamation scheme featured substantially lower costs (0.81–1.02 €/m3) than the seawater desalination plant (1.09–1.58 €/m3). However, implementing a water production process before the electrolyser only represented a minor impact (< 2.4 %) on the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) and specific energy consumption of the integrated system, even with water production costs as high as 10 €/m3. The contribution of the specific water consumption to the LCOH ranged between 0.10 and 1.80 % when considering water consumptions between 9 and 15 L/kgH2, respectively. The sensitivity analysis illustrated that the impact of water production on the LCOH was nearly negligible when compared with other operating factors, such as the electrolyser efficiency or the load factor. Overall, this study highlights that water production from alternative water sources has a minimal impact on the economic balance of the electrolyser, making it a viable option to support green hydrogen projects in water-scarce regions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772427125000981Green hydrogenWater-energy nexusPower-to-gasRenewable energyDecarbonizationWater reclamation |
| spellingShingle | Sergi Vinardell Jose Luis Cortina César Valderrama Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible? Energy Nexus Green hydrogen Water-energy nexus Power-to-gas Renewable energy Decarbonization Water reclamation |
| title | Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible? |
| title_full | Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible? |
| title_fullStr | Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible? |
| title_short | Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible? |
| title_sort | powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources is it economically feasible |
| topic | Green hydrogen Water-energy nexus Power-to-gas Renewable energy Decarbonization Water reclamation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772427125000981 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sergivinardell poweringrenewablehydrogenproductionwithalternativewatersourcesisiteconomicallyfeasible AT joseluiscortina poweringrenewablehydrogenproductionwithalternativewatersourcesisiteconomicallyfeasible AT cesarvalderrama poweringrenewablehydrogenproductionwithalternativewatersourcesisiteconomicallyfeasible |