Energy, economic, and environmental evaluations on paper industry decarbonization by implementing electrolytic hydrogen

Abstract

Paper mills are considered Hard-to-Abate sectors due to their high energy demand and reliance on fossil fuels, making cost-effective decarbonization challenging. This paper explores the potential of using hydrogen as a viable solution to reduce carbon dioxide emissions of a paper mill through a case study. A methodological approach is proposed to evaluate the technical, economic, and environmental performances of a hydrogen supply chain that includes an electrolysis unit powered by a photovoltaic plant. The hydrogen is blended with natural gas in a cogeneration plant, which supplies the electrical and thermal demands needed for the paper production process. Based on the technical analysis, the optimal sizes of the photovoltaic plant and the electrolysis unit were estimated at 45.6 and 16.1 MW, respectively, to achieve a hydrogen production of 1553 t/year. The environmental evaluation enabled the calculation of the avoided carbon dioxide emissions, which are equal to 9797 t/year. The economic assessment allowed to estimate the levelized cost of hydrogen, which is 4.24 €/kg. Finally, the break-even analysis highlighted the need for economic and financial instruments, including incentives for green hydrogen production and mechanisms aimed at supporting emissions reduction, to ensure that the industry grows in a sustainable, competitive, and resilient manner.

Keywords

Paper mill / Hydrogen / Cogeneration system / Photovoltaic power plant / Levelized cost of hydrogen

CRediT authorship contribution statement

A. Perna: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Supervision, Software, Methodology, Investigation, Conceptualization. G. Di Cicco: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation. E. Jannelli: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. C. Bassano: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. D. Lanni: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Software, Formal analysis, Data curation. M. Minutillo: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Supervision, Software, Methodology, Investigation, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU from the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security POR H2 AdP MMES/ENEA with involvement of CNR and RSE, PNRR - Mission 2, Component 2, Investment 3.5 "Ricerca e sviluppo sull'idrogeno", CUP: I83C22001170006.

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