Brazil

This paper investigates technological pathways for the conversion of coal-fired power plants toward sustainable energy sources using an integrated multi-criteria decisionmaking approach that combines Proknow-C AHP and PROMETHEE. Eight alternatives were identified: full conversion to natural gas full conversion to biomass coal and natural gas hybridization coal and biomass hybridization electricity and hydrogen cogeneration coal and solar energy hybridization post-combustion carbon capture systems and decommissioning with subsequent reuse. The analysis combined bibliographic data (26 scientific articles and 13 patents) with surveys from 14 energy experts using Total Decision version 1.2.1041.0 and Visual PROMETHEE version 1.1.0.0 software tools. Based on six criteria (environmental structural technical technological economic and social) the most viable option was full conversion to natural gas (ϕ = +0.0368) followed by coal and natural gas hybridization (ϕ = +0.0257) and coal and solar hybridization (ϕ = +0.0124). These alternatives emerged as the most balanced in terms of emissions reduction infrastructure reuse and cost efficiency. In contrast decommissioning (ϕ = −0.0578) and carbon capture systems (ϕ = −0.0196) were less favorable. This study proposes a structured framework for strategic energy planning that supports a just energy transition and contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 and 13 highlighting the need for public policies that enhance the competitiveness and scalability of sustainable alternatives.

This work describes a thermodynamic comparison of the thermal efficiency of gas turbine engines featuring a conventional combustion chamber and a detonation combustion chamber using methane ethanol and mixtures of both ethanol and hydrogen and methane and hydrogen as fuels. The composition of gases was determined by the minimization of the Gibbs free energy whereas temperature pressure and velocity of detonation waves were determined by the Chapman-Jouguet theory. The results obtained here show that the DCC gas turbine cycle has a higher net work output and thermal efficiency than the CCC gas turbine cycle for all fuels studied in this work. The maximum thermal efficiency obtained with the DCC gas turbine cycle is indeed 57.22% which represents a 53.75% improvement over the maximum thermal efficiency obtained with the CCC gas turbine cycle (which has a peak thermal efficiency of 37.22%) under the same pressure ratio and turbine inlet temperature.

The chances of a global hydrogen economy becoming a reality have increased significantly since the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine and for net zero carbon emissions. However intercontinental hydrogen transport is still a major issue. This study suggests transporting hydrogen as a gas at atmospheric pressure in balloons using the natural flow of wind to carry the balloon to its destination. We investigate the average wind speeds atmospheric pressure and temperature at different altitudes for this purpose. The ideal altitudes to transport hydrogen with balloons are 10 km or lower and hydrogen pressures in the balloon vary from 0.25 to 1 bar. Transporting hydrogen from North America to Europe at a maximum 4 km altitude would take around 4.8 days on average. Hydrogen balloon transportation cost is estimated at 0.08 USD/kg of hydrogen which is around 12 times smaller than the cost of transporting liquified hydrogen from the USA to Europe. Due to its reduced energy consumption and capital cost in some locations hydrogen balloon transportation might be a viable option for shipping hydrogen compared to liquefied hydrogen and other transport technologies.

The biological production of hydrogen offers a renewable and potentially sustainable alternative for clean energy generation. In Northeast Brazil depleted oil reservoirs (DORs) present a unique opportunity to integrate biotechnology with existing fossil fuel infrastructure. These subsurface formations rich in residual hydrocarbons (RH) and native H2 producing microbiota can be repurposed as bioreactors for hydrogen production. This process often referred to as “Gold Hydrogen” involves the in situ microbial conversion of RH into H2 typically via dark fermentation and is distinct from green blue or grey hydrogen due to its reliance on indigenous subsurface biota and RH. Strategies include nutrient modulation and chemical additives to stimulate native hydrogenogenic genera (Clostridium Petrotoga Thermotoga) or the injection of improved inocula. While this approach has potential environmental benefits such as integrated CO2 sequestration and minimized surface disturbance it also presents risks namely the production of CO2 and H2S and fracturing which require strict monitoring and mitigation. Although infrastructure reuse reduces capital expenditures achieving economic viability depends on overcoming significant technical operational and biotechnological challenges. If widely applied this model could help decarbonize the energy sector repurpose legacy infrastructure and support the global transition toward low-carbon technologies.

This paper aims to perform a systematic review with a bibliometric approach of the technoeconomic evaluation studies of hydrogen production. To achieve this objective a comprehensive outline of hydrogen production processes from fossil and renewable sources is presented. The results reveal that electrolysis classified as water splitting is the most investigated process in the literature since it contributes to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and presents other advantages such as maturity and applicability energy efficiency flexibility and energy storage potential. In addition the processes of gasification classified as thermochemical and steam reforming classified as catalytic reforming are worth mentioning. Regarding the biological category there is a balance between research on photo fermentation and dark fermentation. The literature on the techno-economic evaluation of hydrogen production highlights significant gaps including a scarcity of comprehensive studies a lack of emphasis on commercial viability an absence of sensitivity analysis and the need for comparative analyses between production technologies.

Despite the number of works on the techno-economics of offshore green hydrogen production there is a lack of research on the design of floating platforms to concomitantly support hydrogen production facilities and wind power generation equipment. Indeed previous studies on offshore decentralised configuration for hydrogen production implicitly assume that a floating platform designed for wind power generation (FOWT) can be also suitable as a floating wind hydrogen system (FWHS). This work proposes a novel design for an offshore decentralised FWHS and analyses the effects of the integration of the hydrogen facilities on the platform’s dynamics and how this in turn affects the performances of the wind turbine and the hydrogen equipment. Our findings indicate that despite the reduction in platform’s stability the performance of the wind turbine is barely affected. Regarding the hydrogen system our results aim at contributing to further assessment and design of this equipment for offshore conditions.

The hydrogen (H2) economy is seen as a crucial pathway for decarbonizing the energy system with green H2—i.e. obtained from water electrolysis supplied by renewable energy—playing a key role as an energy carrier in this transition. The growing interest in H2 comes from its versatility which means that H2 can serve as a raw material or energy source and various technologies allow it to be produced from a wide range of resources. Environmental impacts of H2 production have primarily focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions despite other environmental aspects being equally relevant in the context of a sustainable energy transition. In this context Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies of H2 supply chains have become more common. This paper aims to compile and analyze discrepancies and convergences among recent reported values from 42 scientific studies related to different H2 production pathways. Technologies related to H2 transportation storage and use were not investigated in this study. Three environmental indicators were considered: Global Warming Potential (GWP) Energy Performance (EP) and Water Consumption (WF) from an LCA perspective. The review showed that H2 based on wind photovoltaic and biomass energy sources are a promising option since it provides lower GWP and higher EP compared to conventional fossil H2 pathways. However WF can be higher for H2 derived from biomass. LCA boundaries and methodological choices have a great influence on the environmental indicators assessed in this paper which leads to great variability in WF results as well as GWP variation due credits given to avoid GHG emissions in upstream process. In the case of EI the inclusion of energy embodied in renewable energy systems demonstrates great influence of upstream phase for electrolytic H2 based on wind and photovoltaic electricity.

In this paper we analyze the autothermal reforming (ATR) of methane through Gibbs energy minimization and entropy maximization methods to analyze isothermic and adiabatic systems respectively. The software GAMS® 23.9 and the CONOPT3 solver were used to conduct the simulations and thermodynamic analyses in order to determine the equilibrium compositions and equilibrium temperatures of this system. Simulations were performed covering different pressures in the range of 1 to 10 atm temperatures between 873 and 1073 K steam/methane ratio was varied in the range of 1.0/1.0 and 2.0/1.0 and oxygen/methane ratios in the feed stream in the range of 0.5/1.0 to 2.0/1.0. The effect of using pure oxygen or air as oxidizer agent to perform the reaction was also studied. The simulations were carried out in order to maintain the same molar proportions of oxygen as in the simulated cases considering pure oxygen in the reactor feed. The results showed that the formation of hydrogen and synthesis gas increased with temperature average composition of 71.9% and 56.0% using air and O2 respectively. These results are observed at low molar oxygen ratios (O2/CH4 = 0.5) in the feed. Higher pressures reduced the production of hydrogen and synthesis gas produced during ATR of methane. In general reductions on the order of 19.7% using O2 and 14.0% using air were observed. It was also verified that the process has autothermicity in all conditions tested and the use of air in relation to pure oxygen favored the compounds of interest mainly in conditions of higher pressure (10 atm). The mean reductions with increasing temperature in the percentage increase of H2 and syngas using air under 1.5 and 10 atm at the different O2/CH4 ratios were 5.3% 13.8% and 16.5% respectively. In the same order these values with the increase of oxygen were 3.6% 6.4% and 9.1%. The better conditions for the reaction include high temperatures low pressures and low O2/CH4 ratios a region in which there is no swelling in terms of the oxygen source used. In addition with the introduction of air the final temperature of the system was reduced by 5% which can help to reduce the negative impacts of high temperatures in reactors during ATR reactions.

In the context of mounting concerns over carbon emissions and the need to accelerate the energy transition green hydrogen has emerged as a strategic solution for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors. This paper introduces a methodological innovation by proposing the Green Hydrogen Efficiency Index (GHEI) a unified and quantitative framework that integrates multiple stages of the hydrogen value chain into a single comparative metric. The index encompasses six core criteria: electricity source water treatment electrolysis efficiency compression end-use conversion and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Each are normalized and weighted to reflect different performance priorities. Two weighting profiles are adopted: a first profile which assigns equal importance to all criteria referred to as the balanced profile and a second profile derived using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on structured expert judgment named the AHP profile. The methodology was developed through a systematic literature review and was applied to four representative case studies sourced from the academic literature covering diverse configurations and geographies. The results demonstrate the GHEI’s capacity to distinguish the energy performance of different green hydrogen routes and support strategic decisions related to technology selection site planning and logistics optimization. The results highlight the potential of the index to contribute to more sustainable hydrogen value chains and advance decarbonization goals by identifying pathways that minimize energy losses and maximize system efficiency

Electrifying heat supply in chemical processes offers a strategic pathway to reduce CO2 emissions associated with fossil fuel combustion. This study investigates the retrofit of an existing terrace-wall Steam Methane Reformer (SMR) in an ammonia plant by replacing fuel-fired burners with electric resistance heaters in the radiant section. The proposed e-REFORMER concept is applied to a real-world case producing hydrogen-rich syngas at 29000 Nm3 /h with simulation and energy analysis performed using Aspen HYSYS®. The results show that electric heating reduces total thermal input by 3.78 % lowers direct flue gas CO2 emissions by 91.56 % and improves furnace thermal efficiency from 85.6 % to 88.9 % (+3.3 %). The existing furnace design and convection heat recovery system are largely preserved maintaining process integration and plant operability. While the case study reflects a medium-scale plant the methodology applies to larger facilities and supports integration with decarbonised power grids and Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies. This work advances current literature by addressing full-system integration of electrification within hydrogen and ammonia production chains offering a viable pathway to improve energy efficiency and reduce industrial emissions.