Colombia

Global demand for clean energy carriers like hydrogen (H2) is rising under carbon-reduction policies. While domestic H2 projects are progressing international trade presents significant opportunities for countries with abundant renewables or advanced production capabilities. Yet establishing H2 as a viable global commodity requires overcoming supply chain challenges in flexibility efficiency and cost. This review examines hydrogen supply chain network design (HSCND) studies and highlights key research gaps in export-oriented systems. Current work often focuses on transport technologies but lacks integrated analyses combining technical economic and policy dimensions. Notable gaps include limited research on retrofitting infrastructure for H2 derivatives underexplored roles of ports as export hubs and insufficient evaluation of regulatory frameworks and financial risks. This review proposes a methodological approach to guide HSCND for export supporting data collection and strategic planning. Future research should integrate technical geopolitical and social factors into models backed by methodological innovation and empirical evidence.

The study presents a complete one-dimensional model to evaluate the parameters that describe the operation of a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer and PEM fuel cell. The mathematical modeling is implemented in Matlab/Simulink® software to evaluate the influence of parameters such as temperature pressure and overpotentials on the overall performance. The models are further merged into an integrated electrolyzer-fuel cell system for electrical power generation. The operational description of the integrated system focuses on estimating the overall efficiency as a novel indicator. Additionally the study presents an economic assessment to evaluate the cost-effectiveness based on different economic metrics such as capital cost electricity cost and payback period. The parametric analysis showed that as the temperature rises from 30 to 70 C in both devices the efficiency is improved between 5-20%. In contrast pressure differences feature less relevance on the overall performance. Ohmic and activation overpotentials are highlighted for the highest impact on the generated and required voltage. Overall the current density exhibited an inverse relation with the efficiency of both devices. The economic evaluation revealed that the integrated system can operate at variable load conditions while maintaining an electricity cost between 0.3-0.45 $/kWh. Also the capital cost can be reduced up to 25% while operating at a low current density and maximum temperature. The payback period varies between 6-10 years for an operational temperature of 70 C which reinforces the viability of the system. Overall hydrogen-powered systems stand as a promising technology to overcome energy transition as they provide robust operation from both energetic and economic viewpoints.

Electrification using renewable energy sources represents a clear path toward solving the current global energy crisis. In Colombia this challenge also involves the diversification of the electrical energy sources to overcome the historical dependence on hydropower. In this context green hydrogen represents a key energy carrier enabling the storage of renewable energy as well as directly powering industrial and transportation sectors. This work explores the realistic potential of the main renewable energy sources including solar photovoltaics (8172 GW) hydropower (56 GW) wind (68 GW) and biomass (14 GW). In addition a case study from abroad is presented demonstrating the feasibility of using each type of renewable energy to generate green hydrogen in the country. At the end an analysis of the most likely regions in the country and paths to deploy green hydrogen projects are presented favoring hydropower in the short term and solar in the long run. By 2050 this energy potential will enable reaching a levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) of 1.7 1.5 3.1 and 1.4 USD/kg-H2 for solar photovoltaic wind hydropower and biomass respectively.

This paper evaluates the potential impacts of introducing low-carbon intensity hydrogen technologies in two oil refineries with different complexity levels emphasizing the role of hydrogen production in reducing CO2 emissions. The novelty of this work lies in three key aspects: Comprehensive system analysis of refinery complexity using real site data integration of low-carbon Hydrogen technologies long-term and short-term strategies. Two Colombian refineries serve as case studies with technological solutions adapted to their complexity levels. The methodology involves evaluating different options for hydrogen production accounting for improvement in technological efficiency over time.<br/>The refinery systems were evaluated in a cost-optimization model built in Linny-r. Three different scenarios were considered Business-As-Usual (BAU) high and low-ambitions decarbonization scenarios focusing on the time horizons of 2030 and 2050.<br/>When comparing the two case studies the preferred decarbonization strategy for both facilities involves the substitution of SMR technology with water electrolyzers powered by renewable electricity. Post-2030 biomass-based hydrogen technology is still a costly alternative; however to achieve CO2 neutrality negative emissions storage of biogenic CO2 emerges as an achievable alternative.<br/>Our results indicate the achievability of CO2 reduction objectives in both refineries. Our results show that achieving long-term CO2 neutrality requires both refineries to increase renewable electricity production by 5 to 6 times for powering water electrolyzers steam production by 2 to 2.5 times for CO2 capture and supply of dry biomass by 2.6 to 4.5 kt/d.<br/>The two most significant factors influencing the refining net margin in the decarbonization scenarios are primarily the CO2 and the renewable electricity prices. The short-term horizon emerges as the pivotal period particularly within the high-ambition decarbonization scenarios. In this context the medium complexity refinery demonstrates economic viability until a CO2 price of 140 €/t CO2 while the high complexity refinery endures up to 205 €/t CO2.<br/>The high complexity refinery is better prepared to face the challenges of decarbonization and the impacts generated on the refining margin. Compared to the BAU scenario the high complexity refinery shows a negative impact on the net margin that corresponds to a 40% and 5% reduction in the short and long term respectively. Meanwhile for the medium complexity refinery the impact on net margin amounts to a 52% reduction in the short term and a 27% improvement in the long term.<br/>Furthermore our research highlights the significant potential for reducing CO2 emissions by fully eliminating the use of refinery gas as fuel providing alternative applications for it beyond combustion.

A multi-objective optimization is performed to obtain fueling conditions in hydrogen stations leading to improved filling times and thermodynamic efficiency (entropy production) of the de facto standard of operation which is defined by the protocol SAE J2601. After finding the Pareto frontier between filling time and total entropy production it was found that SAE J2601 is suboptimal in terms of these process variables. Specifically reductions of filling time from 47 to 77% are possible in the analyzed range of ambient temperatures (from 10 to 40 °C) with higher saving potential the hotter the weather conditions. Maximum entropy production savings with respect to SAE J2601 (7% for 10 °C 1% for 40 °C) demand a longer filling time that increases with ambient temperature (264% for 10 °C 350% for 40 °C). Considering average electricity prices in California USA the operating cost of the filling process can be reduced between 8 and 28% without increasing the expected filling time.