Hydrogen Production From Waste Biomass in California

Biomass based hydrogen has some positive attributes as a transportation fuel. It has low well-to-wheels greenhouse gas emissions and the primary energy source is local and sustainable if implemented with good farming practices. Waste biomass is particularly compelling because it is co-produced with food products and is an environmental detriment if no economically viable end-use is found for it. For this reason, waste biomass feedstock can potentially be a negative or zero cost feedstock. This study is an economic optimization of a waste biomass-to-hydrogen industry in California. The transportation of the biomass feedstock and the product hydrogen is likely to make a significant contribution to total cost of the hydrogen. In order to obtain a good estimate of the availability of bio-hydrogen, transport distances need to be addressed. For this reason, a case study approach is being used. The case study will look at forestry, orchard, and vineyard thinning gasification, agricultural field residue gasification, dairy manure/biogas reforming, and landfill gas reforming.

Available feedstock and demand centers will be characterized (type of feedstock and size of resource; location, size and density of demand) in a GIS database to determine the distances between them. Engineering-economic models of the conversion process (feedstock collection, feedstock transport, feedstock storage, conversion plant, and hydrogen transport to city-gate) will be developed or adapted from earlier work of the H2 Pathways group. The engineering-economic models will be scalable and will provide the cost per kg hydrogen given a configuration of the conversion process. The final tool to be developed will be an industry-optimizing model. This model will optimize the industry profit given a refueling station selling price of hydrogen and cost of feedstock by choosing the optimal size and location of the conversion plant and the demand center served by the conversion plant. This method will allow for the creation of a waste bio-hydrogen supply curves for different feedstock costs.

Publications from this project:

Parker, Nathan C. (2007) Optimizing the Design of Biomass Hydrogen Supply Chains Using Real-World Spatial Distributions: A Case Study Using California Rice Straw. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-07-04

Parker, Nathan, "Optimal Design of Hydrogen Production From Agricultural Waste," Proceeding of the National Hydrogen Association (NHA) Annual Conference, Long Beach, California, March 2006.

Parker, Nathan, "Spatially-Explicit Economic Assessment of Hydrogen from Waste Biomass: A California Case Study with Rice Straw," Proceeding of the Transporation Research Board 2006 Annual Conference, Washington D.C., January 2006.

Presentations from this project:

Parker, Nathan, "Optimal Infrastructure for Agricultural Waste-Based Hydrogen," 2006 INFORMS Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, November 8, 2006.

Parker, Nathan, "Optimal Design of an Infrastructure to Convert Rice Straw to Hydrogen: A California Case Study," Presentation at the National Hydrogen Association 2006 Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA, March 12 - 16, 2006.

Eggert, Anthony, Nathan Parker, "Production of Hydrogen from Waste Biomass," ISFL Conference, New Delhi, India, March 7 - 10, 2006.

Parker, Nathan, "Production of Hydrogen from Waste Biomass," Presentation at the California Fuel Cell Partnership, West Sacramento, March 7, 2006.

Parker, Nathan, "A Spatially Explicit Economic Analysis of Hydrogen from Rice Straw in California," Poster Presentation Transportation Research Board 2006 Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., January 22 - 26, 2006.

Parker, Nathan, "Production of Hydrogen from Waste Biomass," Cal/EPA Secretary’s Seminar, Sacramento, CA, September 27, 2005.

Research Faculty: Joan Ogden
Graduate Student Researcher: Nathan Parker
Funding: Hydrogen Pathways Program