The cost of hydrogen from biomass is not well understood due to the trade-offs between economies of scale at the production facility and diseconomies of scale in the feedstock collection and hydrogen delivery. This Thesis develops a methodology to optimize full supply chains for producing hydrogen from dispersed biomass resources and delivering it to the drivers of hydrogen vehicles at refueling stations. A profit maximizing model of the supply chain for use with real-world geographic information is formulated in a mixed integer-non-linear program. The model chooses the optimal number, location, and size of conversion facilities along with the fields that supply each facility and which demands are served by which facilities. In the process the optimal mode of hydrogen delivery is chosen.

The rice straw case study demonstrated that hydrogen from biomass could be competitive with the projected costs of the distributed production of hydrogen by steam methane reformation (SMR). All cases fell below or within the range of projected costs for onsite SMR with current technology. Cases with high demand density (25% and 50% vehicles using hydrogen for fuel) that can take advantage of lower cost hydrogen delivery are competitive with the future technology case of onsite SMR.

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