A Comprehensive Technical, Environmental, Economic, and Bibliometric Assessment of Hydrogen Production Through Biomass Gasification, Including Global and Brazilian Potentials

It is well known that the widespread utilization of fossil fuels contributes to climate change, so exploring new sustainable energy sources is more important than ever for energy transition pathways. The variability and intermittency of solar and wind sources are of concern. Hydrogen (H2) utilization as an energy carrier can address this issue. The technology for producing hydrogen from biomass gasification has not yet reached a high level of technological maturity. The main novelty of this work is to evaluate the state of the art of the technologies for producing H2 from solid biomass, taking into account technological, economic, and environmental indicators and the results of a bibliometric study, and also the calculation of the technical potential for hydrogen production through biomass gasification on a worldwide and Brazilian scale. The most frequently mentioned technology to boost H2 production efficiency is the addition of catalysts to the gasifier. Primary catalyst utilized in biomass gasification for hydrogen enhancing enhancement, such as olivine, CaO, and CeO2-Ni-CaO are reviewed in the article. As a result, the syngas had an H2 content rise of 511%, 659.6%, and 853.4%, respectively. According to the reviewed literature, the levelized cost of hydrogen production can reach an average value of USD3.15/kg of H2, and the average yield is 0.1 kg-H2/kg-biomass. The worldwide potential for hydrogen production from solid biomass in an optimal trends scenario for 2050 is estimated to be 45.03 EJ, and Brazil’s potential is 6.5 EJ.