Liquefied hydrogen value chain: A detailed techno-economic evaluation for its application in the industrial and mobility sectors

Green hydrogen can be efficiently produced in regions rich in renewable sources, far from the European large-production sites, and delivered to the continent for utilization in the industrial and mobility sectors. In this work, the transportation of hydrogen from North Africa to North Italy in its liquefied form is considered. A techno-economic assessment is performed on its value chain, which includes liquefaction, storage, maritime transport, distribution, regasification and compression. The calculated transport cost for the industrial application (delivery to a hydrogen valley) ranges from 6.14 to 9.16 €/kg, while for the mobility application (delivery to refueling stations) the range is 10.96–17.71 €/kg. In the latter case, the most cost-effective configuration involves the distribution of liquefied hydrogen and regasification at the refueling stations. The liquefaction process is the cost driver of the value chain in all the investigated cases, suggesting the importance of its optimization to minimize the overall transport cost.