Future Water Challenges of a Hydrogen Economy
Sonia Yeh, Richard White, and Noah Goldstein
7000 East Ave., L-229
Livermore, CA 94551
925-422-1850
Yeh7@llnl.gov
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA.

Abstract submitted to the NHA Annual Hydrogen Conference 2008, March 30-April 4, 2008, Sacramento, CA

Implementing the hydrogen economy – and its benefits – requires careful consideration of the feedstocks used in its production, particularly water. While much effort is focused on the energy efficiencies of different hydrogen production processes, the water constraints and requirements for these pathways have not received the same level of attention. Already, on a national scale, competing demands for water are increasing the value and reducing the availability of this limited resource. Future Hydrogen demand growth, driven in part by the search for non-petroleum alternative fuels, will place additional stress on water infrastructure. The goal of this study is to i) provide preliminary quantification and economic characterization of life-cycle water needs for hydrogen economy scenarios, ii) identify how specific solutions will vary by region, and iii) predict how climate change might further affect water availability.

It is clear that hydrogen can be produced from a suite of energy resources (e.g, fossil, nuclear and renewables), using a variety of technologies. From this basis, a set of tasks are identified and studied:
1. Develop analysis of water requirements: For each potential production process, the water requirements must be defined in terms of volume, delivery rate, and quality. Fundamental water requirement information will be combined with practical considerations such as the balance of plant to develop a clear understanding of the water requirements for commercial-scale utilization.
2. Define plant-level water treatment requirements, technical feasibility, economic cost and environmental impacts of water use at hydrogen production plant. The key questions we will address in this task are: water quality requirements and operational impact, water/fuel tradeoffs, and infrastructure requirements for different types of water use.
3. Assess key regional scenarios and solutions: Once a process-based understanding is obtained, regional assessments will be conducted. For different regional cross-sections of the country, the availability of various resources (i.e., water resources, energy resources, feedstocks and existing infrastructure) must be assessed. Potential hydrogen production options and capabilities will be assessed, in the context of projected hydrogen demands. These options will then be addressed in the context of the water infrastructure currently in place, the projected water demands for that region, water rights issues, and the potential to reconfigure existing infrastructure to support a hydrogen economy
4. Assess and identify climate change related concerns. Projections of climate change have some potentially strong implications for water availability, water quality, and energy supply/demand, even on a decadal timeframe. Variations in regional hydrology are predicted to impact the performance of existing water infrastructure and systems. Regional impacts of climate change on water volume, availability, quality, and cost will be considered.

The findings of this project will be incorporated into the DOE’s Hydrogen Program’s analysis of the costs and viability of hydrogen as one of the energy carriers for future transportation use. Our preliminary analysis will focus on centralized and forecourt steam methane reforming (SMR) technologies.

This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. UCRL-ABS-235818