On the Bulk Transport of Green Hydrogen at Sea: Comparison Between Submarine Pipeline and Compressed and Liquefied Transport by Ship

This paper compares six (6) alternatives for green hydrogen transport at sea. Two (2) alternatives of liquid hydrogen (LH2) by ship, two (2) alternatives of compressed hydrogen (cH2) by ship and two (2) alternatives of hydrogen by pipeline. The ship alternatives study having hydrogen storage media at both end terminals to reduce the ships’ time at port or prescinding of them and reduce the immobilized capital. In the case of the pipeline, new models are proposed by considering pressure costs. One scenario considers that there are compression stations every 500 km and the other one considers that there are none along the way. These alternatives are assessed under nine different scenarios that combine three distances: 100 km, 2500 km, and 5000 km; and three export rates of hydrogen 100 kt/y, 1 Mt/y and 10 Mt/y. The results show, including uncertainty bands, that for the 100 km of distance the best alternative is the pipeline. For 2500 km and 100 kt/y the top alternative is cH2 shipping without storage facilities at the port terminals. For 2500 km and 1 Mt/y and for 5000 km and 100 kt/y the best alternatives are cH2 or LH2 shipping. For the remaining scenarios the best alternative is LH2 shipping.