Techno-economic and environmental analysis of gasification of waste or forest biomass into hydrogen in remote communities using the Northwest Territories as a case study

Transportation fuels such as diesel and gasoline contribute to 61 % of the total emissions in the Northwest Territories (NWT) and are expensive at $56.92–60.88/GJ, which is twice the cost of that in most of Canada. In this study, municipal solid waste, mixed plastics, tire waste, and forest biomass are assessed for the production of 14 t/day hydrogen using gasification to replace transportation fuels. While hydrogen reduces the emissions from diesel and gasoline by 99 %, the cost of hydrogen from forest biomass is significantly higher at $19.09/kg ($134.44/GJ). The cost is lower with feedstocks of mixed plastics and tire waste - $15.80/kg ($111.26/GJ) and $13.75/kg ($96.83/GJ), considering tipping fees - but there are insufficient amounts of these wastes. Even with a 40 % Clean Hydrogen Investment credit on the production cost of hydrogen, this cost for hydrogen is more than double the average cost of diesel and gasoline in the NWT. • Waste sources limited to forestry biomass to meet diesel and gasoline needs in NWT. • H 2 cuts transportation emissions by 99 %, but costs twice as much as current fuel. • LCOH from mixed plastics and tires is $14–23/GJ less than from forest biomass. • CO 2 Transport & Storage costs are prohibitive in remote communities.