Development of net energy ratio and emission factor for biohydrogen production pathways

This study investigates the energy and environmental aspects of producing biohydrogen for bitumen upgrading from a life cycle perspective. Three technologies are studied for biohydrogen production; these include the Battelle Columbus Laboratory (BCL) gasifier, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) gasifier, and fast pyrolysis. Three different biomass feedstocks are considered including forest residue (FR), whole forest (WF), and agricultural residue (AR). The fast pyrolysis pathway includes two cases: truck transport of bio-oil and pipeline transport of bio-oil. The net energy ratios (NERs) for nine biohydrogen pathways lie in the range of 1.3–9.3. The maximum NER (9.3) is for the FR-based pathway using GTI technology. The GHG emissions lie in the range of 1.20–8.1 kg CO2 eq/kg H2. The lowest limit corresponds to the FR-based biohydrogen production pathway using GTI technology. This study also analyzes the intensities for acid rain precursor and ground level ozone precursor.