Life Cycle Assessment of Improved High Pressure Alkaline Electrolysis. (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Koj, Jan Christian; Schreiber, Andrea; Zapp, Petra; Marcuello, Pablo
• Is Part Of: Energy procedia. Volume 75(2015)
• Page Start: 2871
• Page End: 2877
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: Life Cycle Assessment -- hydrogen production -- alkaline water electrolysis -- environmental impacts; Power resources -- Congresses; Power resources -- Periodicals; Power resources; Conference proceedings; Periodicals; 333.7905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.576
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1876-6102

Abstract

Abstract: This paper investigates environmental impacts of high pressure alkaline water electrolysis systems. An advanced system with membranes on polymer basis is compared to a state-of-the-art system with asbestos membranes using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. For the advanced system, a new improved membrane technology has been investigated within the EU research project "ELYGRID". Results indicate that most environmental impacts are caused by the electricity supply necessary for operation. During the construction phase cell stacks are the main contributor to environmental impacts. New improved membranes have relatively small contributions to impacts caused by cell construction within the advanced systems. As main outcome the systems comparison illustrates a better ecological performance of the new developed system.