Techno-Economic Analysis of Hydrogen Production from Swine Manure Biogas via Steam Reforming in Pilot-Scale Installation

The main purpose of this paper is the techno-economic analysis of hydrogen production from biogas via steam reforming in a pilot plant. Process flow modeling based on mass and energy balance is used to estimate the total equipment purchase and operating costs of hydrogen production. The pilot plant installation produced 250.67 kg/h hydrogen from 1260 kg/h biomethane obtained after purification of 4208 m(3)/h biogas using a heat and mass integration process. Despite the high investment cost, the plant shows a great potential for biomethane reduction and conversion to hydrogen, an attractive economic path with ecological possibilities. The conversion of waste into hydrogen is a possibility of increasing importance in the global energy economy. In the future, such a plant will be expanded with a CO2 reduction module to increase economic efficiency and further reduce greenhouse gases in an economically viable manner.