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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Autores: Vinardell Cruañas, Sergi|||0000-0002-1976-9528, Cortina Pallás, José Luis|||0000-0002-3719-5118, Valderrama Ángel, César Alberto|||0000-0001-6711-8183
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/433392
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/433392
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100457
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Green hydrogen
Water-energy nexus
Power-to-gas
Renewable energy
Decarbonization
Water reclamation
Techno-economic evaluation
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química
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spelling Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible?Vinardell Cruañas, Sergi|||0000-0002-1976-9528Cortina Pallás, José Luis|||0000-0002-3719-5118Valderrama Ángel, César Alberto|||0000-0001-6711-8183Green hydrogenWater-energy nexusPower-to-gasRenewable energyDecarbonizationWater reclamationTechno-economic evaluationÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria químicaLimited 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.We would like to acknowledge the Spanish Agency of Research (AEI) through the project development of upcycling approaches in the agri-food and process industries to promote on-site and sustainable chemicals production (UPCYCLING) (PID2023-147160OB-C21) funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, EU. The authors also acknowledge the Catalan Government for the project 2021-SGR-GRC-00596. Sergi Vinardell is a Serra Húnter fellow. Jose Luis Cortina received support for the research through the “ICREA Academia” recognition for excellence in research funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Additionally, the authors acknowledge the project CEX2023-001300-M funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer ReviewedElsevier20252025-06-0120252025-07-03journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/433392https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100457reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)InglésengAgencia Estatal de Investigación http://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023 PID2023-147160OB-C21 DESARROLLO DE PROPUESTAS DE UPCYCLING EN LAS INDUSTRIAS DE PROCESOS PARA FOMENTAR LA PRODUCCION ON-SITE Y SOSTENIBLE DE PRODUCTOS QUIMICOSopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/4333922026-05-27T15:37:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible?
title Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible?
spellingShingle Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible?
Vinardell Cruañas, Sergi|||0000-0002-1976-9528
Green hydrogen
Water-energy nexus
Power-to-gas
Renewable energy
Decarbonization
Water reclamation
Techno-economic evaluation
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química
title_short 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_sort Powering renewable hydrogen production with alternative water sources: Is it economically feasible?
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Vinardell Cruañas, Sergi|||0000-0002-1976-9528
Cortina Pallás, José Luis|||0000-0002-3719-5118
Valderrama Ángel, César Alberto|||0000-0001-6711-8183
author Vinardell Cruañas, Sergi|||0000-0002-1976-9528
author_facet Vinardell Cruañas, Sergi|||0000-0002-1976-9528
Cortina Pallás, José Luis|||0000-0002-3719-5118
Valderrama Ángel, César Alberto|||0000-0001-6711-8183
author_role author
author2 Cortina Pallás, José Luis|||0000-0002-3719-5118
Valderrama Ángel, César Alberto|||0000-0001-6711-8183
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Green hydrogen
Water-energy nexus
Power-to-gas
Renewable energy
Decarbonization
Water reclamation
Techno-economic evaluation
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química
topic Green hydrogen
Water-energy nexus
Power-to-gas
Renewable energy
Decarbonization
Water reclamation
Techno-economic evaluation
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química
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.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-06-01
2025
2025-07-03
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2117/433392
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100457
url https://hdl.handle.net/2117/433392
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100457
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Agencia Estatal de Investigación http://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023 PID2023-147160OB-C21 DESARROLLO DE PROPUESTAS DE UPCYCLING EN LAS INDUSTRIAS DE PROCESOS PARA FOMENTAR LA PRODUCCION ON-SITE Y SOSTENIBLE DE PRODUCTOS QUIMICOS
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
reponame_str UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
collection UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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