Hydrogen Storage Solutions in the Power-to-X Framework
(2025) MVKM01 20242Department of Energy Sciences
- Abstract
- Power-to-X (PtX) is an emerging approach in decarbonizing industries hard to electrify, and is in many cases requiring stable hydrogen supply to maximize production. Hydrogen is produced via electrolysis and requires large amounts of electricity, which can be expensive, especially when considering highly fluctuating electricity prices. One solution in reducing electricity related costs is to integrate a hydrogen storage in the PtX system, acting like a buffer of hydrogen. The idea is to produce hydrogen when electricity prices are low and when prices are high, hydrogen from the storage would be used in the process, ensuring stable hydrogen supply.
This thesis evaluates a range of hydrogen storage solutions, examining their advantages,... (More) - Power-to-X (PtX) is an emerging approach in decarbonizing industries hard to electrify, and is in many cases requiring stable hydrogen supply to maximize production. Hydrogen is produced via electrolysis and requires large amounts of electricity, which can be expensive, especially when considering highly fluctuating electricity prices. One solution in reducing electricity related costs is to integrate a hydrogen storage in the PtX system, acting like a buffer of hydrogen. The idea is to produce hydrogen when electricity prices are low and when prices are high, hydrogen from the storage would be used in the process, ensuring stable hydrogen supply.
This thesis evaluates a range of hydrogen storage solutions, examining their advantages, disadvantages, capacity, technological readiness levels (TRLs), and overall suitability for different applications.
Pressure storage tanks are fully mature and flexible at moderate levelized cost of storage (LCOS) but face challenges with space efficiency, scalability, and safety, limiting their use to small or medium scales. Underground storage options, like salt caverns and lined rock caverns, are well-suited for large-scale PtX applications, offering low LCOS and safety benefits but depend on geological conditions. Emerging technologies such as lined rock holes show promise for moderate LCOS and enhanced space efficiency.
Liquefied hydrogen storage is mature and compact but energy-intensive and costly due to the liquefaction process. Chemical storage methods, including LOHCs and metal hydrides, provide space-efficient and stable storage but are constrained by high energy requirements for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation. Metal hydrides offer the highest storage density but also the highest energy consumption.
The LCOS analysis shows consistent trends, with salt caverns as the most cost-effective for large-scale storage, while LOHCs and liquid hydrogen are less economical. Excluding electricity costs barely affect the relative LCOS of the technologies, but does have a meaningful impact on the energy intensive storage alternatives (liquid hydrogen storage and material-based storage).
The thesis concludes that no single solution fully addresses the challenges of hydrogen storage, and the optimal choice depends on application-specific requirements such as cycling frequency, storage capacity, cost, and scalability. Recommendations for suitable PtX applications are summarized in a qualitative evaluation, emphasizing the importance of flexible and efficient storage solutions for hydrogen in PtX systems. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- Power-to-X (PtX) is an emerging approach in decarbonizing industries hard to electrify, in many cases requiring stable hydrogen supply to maximize production. Hydrogen production is an electricity-intensive process. Fluctuating electricity prices make hydrogen storage essential to buffer production, generating hydrogen when electricity prices are low and using stored hydrogen when prices rise. Hydrogen is conventionally stored as pressurized gas in tanks, but faces challenges regards to space efficiency and safety. Alternative storage technologies, such as liquid hydrogen and underground storages, are being evaluated in this thesis. Concluding that optimal storage solution depends on application-specific needs, balancing cost, capacity,... (More)
- Power-to-X (PtX) is an emerging approach in decarbonizing industries hard to electrify, in many cases requiring stable hydrogen supply to maximize production. Hydrogen production is an electricity-intensive process. Fluctuating electricity prices make hydrogen storage essential to buffer production, generating hydrogen when electricity prices are low and using stored hydrogen when prices rise. Hydrogen is conventionally stored as pressurized gas in tanks, but faces challenges regards to space efficiency and safety. Alternative storage technologies, such as liquid hydrogen and underground storages, are being evaluated in this thesis. Concluding that optimal storage solution depends on application-specific needs, balancing cost, capacity, and space-efficiency.
With society converting more and more from fossil fuels to renewable energy such as solar and wind power, problems with fluctuating energy production and electricity prices arise. PtX plants play a crucial role in the energy transition, converting renewable electricity into hydrogen or other energy carriers for use as synthetic fuels, chemical feedstocks, or in hydrogen-based steelmaking. The fluctuating energy production is however causing high electricity costs for hydrogen production, which can be lowered using hydrogen storage.
Given fluctuating electricity prices, hydrogen can be produced during periods of low electricity prices and utilizing stored hydrogen when prices rise, ensuring stable supply while minimizing electricity-related costs. Conventional storage solutions, such as pressure tanks, face limitations in scalability, safety, and space-efficiency. Exploring alternative storage solutions is essential for advancing PtX systems and supporting the broader energy transition.
With the thesis conducted at Ramboll, a leading consultancy company within PtX, the focus was to provide a commercial framework on alternative hydrogen storage alternatives so that stakeholders can make informed decisions about what hydrogen storage to choose and maybe consider upcoming storage technologies. For the analysis, factors like space-efficiency, capacity, cost, and scalability were considered.
The thesis concludes that pressure storage tanks are fully mature and flexible at moderate costs but face challenges with space-efficiency, scalability, and safety. Stored hydrogen gas often takes up a lot of space, especially when stored above ground. An alternative solution is therefore to store hydrogen underground. There are multiple underground storage options and they are well-suited for large-scale PtX applications, offering large storage volumes at low costs and safety benefits, but they can be limited by geological conditions.
Liquefied hydrogen storage is mature and compact but energy-intensive and costly due to the liquefaction process. Chemical storage methods provide space-efficient and stable storage but are constrained by high energy requirements for hydrogen storage and release. Liquefied hydrogen storage and chemical storage offer high hydrogen storage densities but also consume a lot of energy.
The optimal choice of hydrogen storage depends on application-specific requirements such as space-efficiency, storage capacity, cost, and scalability. In conclusion, there is no single solution that fully addresses the challenges of hydrogen storage. A more complex analysis, as done in this thesis, is required when choosing hydrogen storage for optimal PtX systems. With the right storage solutions, PtX plants can operate more smoothly at lower costs–making the energy transition even more attractive. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9181374
- author
- Markovic, Petra LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MVKM01 20242
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Hydrogen Storage, Levelized Cost of Hydrogen Storage
- report number
- LUTMDN/TMHP-25/5608-SE
- ISSN
- 0282-1990
- language
- English
- id
- 9181374
- date added to LUP
- 2025-01-20 12:46:13
- date last changed
- 2025-01-20 12:46:13
@misc{9181374,
abstract = {{Power-to-X (PtX) is an emerging approach in decarbonizing industries hard to electrify, and is in many cases requiring stable hydrogen supply to maximize production. Hydrogen is produced via electrolysis and requires large amounts of electricity, which can be expensive, especially when considering highly fluctuating electricity prices. One solution in reducing electricity related costs is to integrate a hydrogen storage in the PtX system, acting like a buffer of hydrogen. The idea is to produce hydrogen when electricity prices are low and when prices are high, hydrogen from the storage would be used in the process, ensuring stable hydrogen supply.
This thesis evaluates a range of hydrogen storage solutions, examining their advantages, disadvantages, capacity, technological readiness levels (TRLs), and overall suitability for different applications.
Pressure storage tanks are fully mature and flexible at moderate levelized cost of storage (LCOS) but face challenges with space efficiency, scalability, and safety, limiting their use to small or medium scales. Underground storage options, like salt caverns and lined rock caverns, are well-suited for large-scale PtX applications, offering low LCOS and safety benefits but depend on geological conditions. Emerging technologies such as lined rock holes show promise for moderate LCOS and enhanced space efficiency.
Liquefied hydrogen storage is mature and compact but energy-intensive and costly due to the liquefaction process. Chemical storage methods, including LOHCs and metal hydrides, provide space-efficient and stable storage but are constrained by high energy requirements for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation. Metal hydrides offer the highest storage density but also the highest energy consumption.
The LCOS analysis shows consistent trends, with salt caverns as the most cost-effective for large-scale storage, while LOHCs and liquid hydrogen are less economical. Excluding electricity costs barely affect the relative LCOS of the technologies, but does have a meaningful impact on the energy intensive storage alternatives (liquid hydrogen storage and material-based storage).
The thesis concludes that no single solution fully addresses the challenges of hydrogen storage, and the optimal choice depends on application-specific requirements such as cycling frequency, storage capacity, cost, and scalability. Recommendations for suitable PtX applications are summarized in a qualitative evaluation, emphasizing the importance of flexible and efficient storage solutions for hydrogen in PtX systems.}},
author = {{Markovic, Petra}},
issn = {{0282-1990}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Hydrogen Storage Solutions in the Power-to-X Framework}},
year = {{2025}},
}