Case study of hydrogen distribution via ammonia-to-hydrogen system in the UK Humber industrial cluster

The creation of a low-carbon hydrogen energy distribution system is essential to the decarbonisation of the UK Humber industrial cluster and other industrial clusters worldwide. In the UK, it is expected that a good proportion of hydrogen will be imported by 2050 in the form of ammonia derivative due to the material and physical limitation of transporting and storing hydrogen. The Immingham Green Energy Terminal (IGET) in the UK Humbers industrial cluster is envisioned to become a strategic landing point for imported low carbon ammonia which will be decomposed thereafter to obtain and supply hydrogen to the end-user heavy industries in the cluster. This study evaluates various ammonia-to-hydrogen network configurations through a comprehensive techno-economic analysis. A technical design was developed to calculate pipeline diameters, accurately accounting for the fluid properties of both hydrogen gas and liquid ammonia across proposed network designs. The results informed the optimisation of the pipeline configurations for each variation. The network simulation was implemented in Aspen Plus V14, validating the technical design outcomes. An economic assessment calculated the levelised costs of transmission (LCOT), ammonia cracking (LCOC), and hydrogen delivery (LCOH). LCOT values ranged from £0.024/kg NH 3 to £0.029/kg H 2 , while LCOC values ranged from £4.25–£4.46/kg H 2 . LCOH values of £3.53 and £3.49/kg H 2 were determined for centralized and decentralized ammonia-to-hydrogen networks, respectively. Comparison with existing literature revealed discrepancies due to differences in annual hydrogen throughput assumptions, limiting direct validation. • Hydrogen distribution in an industrial cluster via ammonia-to-hydrogen. • Design configurations of different ammonia-to-hydrogen systems. • Decentralized networks achieve lower costs with £3.49/kg H 2 levelized H 2 cost. • StepPed-diameter pipelines offer economic and energy efficiency advantages.