Techno-Economic Analysis of Hydrogen Transport via LOHC-Based Supply Chains: Dehydrogenation Heat Supply and Maritime Transport

As hydrogen is expected to play an important role in the global energy system, hydrogen transport present bottlenecks for long-distance hydrogen supply chains (HSCs). One of the potential solutions is the use of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), with methylcyclohexane (MCH) paired with toluene being a state-of-the-art system in industrial applications. LOHCs maintain chemical stability in the liquid phase under ambient conditions and can potentially utilise existing infrastructure, making them more advantageous than other hydrogen carriers. However, LOHC-based HSCs face challenges, particularly in heat supply for the energy-intensive endothermic dehydrogenation process, as well as uncertainties associated with the large-scale maritime transport of toluene/MCH. This study presents a comprehensive techno-economic analysis of the cost and carbon intensity (CI) of a LOHC-based HSC. Using Shell’s proprietary mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) modelling tool, FESM, we modelled a case study of hydrogen transport from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Rotterdam, quantifying the overall cost with a detailed cost breakdown. We then focus on the dehydrogenation unit by evaluating the cost and CI of various heat supply strategies, such as a dual-source approach blending natural gas and offshore wind power. Our findings identify strategies for reducing the CI of LOHC dehydrogenation in future deployments. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of maritime transport is performed to evaluate the impact of vessel size and shipping speed on the LOHC transportation cost. The results show that larger tankers are more cost-effective, although regulatory adaptations are required to enable large-scale LOHC transport.