Techno-Economic Assessment of LOHC-Based Hydrogen Export from Australia to Japan

Abstract This study develops a corridor-specific techno-economic framework for LOHC-based hydrogen export from Australia to Japan and applies it to four representative carrier systems: toluene/methylcyclohexane (TOL/MCH), dibenzyltoluene/perhydrodibenzyltoluene (H0-DBT/H18-DBT), N-ethylcarbazole/perhydro-N-ethylcarbazole (H0-NEC/H12-NEC), and benzene/cyclohexane (BZ/CH). The framework integrates carrier-specific process simulation, maritime logistics, regional cost assumptions, heat-supply options, and deployability factors within a unified hydrogen-to-hydrogen supply chain boundary. The results show that hydrogen production is the dominant cost driver, while carrier choice strongly affects salable hydrogen output, dehydrogenation energy demand, and noncost feasibility. Under the base-case configuration, in which dehydrogenation heat is supplied by combusting a portion of the produced hydrogen, the delivered levelized cost of hydrogen (LCH2) ranges from 16.42 to 24.99 A$/kg-H2, with BZ/CH achieving the lowest cost (16.42 A$/kg-H2) while TOL/MCH represents the highest-cost option (24.99 A$/kg-H2). An alternative biomass combustion heat source lowers LCH2 for all carriers and changes the ranking by making TOL/MCH the second-lowest-cost option (14.30 A$/kg-H2), while BZ/CH remains the lowest-cost system (12.41 A$/kg-H2) and H0-NEC/H12-NEC becomes the highest-cost option (19.05 A$/kg-H2). H0-DBT/H18-DBT provides a more balanced combination of cost, technical maturity, safety, and commercial deployability.