Techno-Economic Evaluation and Synthesis of Green Hydrogen Supply Chain with Ammonia as Energy Carrier

To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, Malaysian government has identified green hydrogen (H₂) as one of the potential energy sources. However, the high production cost of green H₂ and technical complications of H₂ storage conditions for distribution undermines the strategic framework of the H₂ roadmap in Malaysia. The lack of investments in pre-requisite support infrastructure for the H₂ production, conversion, and storage technologies impedes the progress of the H₂ economy in Malaysia. Recently, ammonia (NH₃) has emerged as a promising carbon-free energy carrier due to its increased ease and safety during transportation and storage. There is limited literature regarding the inclusion of an NH3 synthesis and storage loop in green H₂ supply chains. This research proposes a systematic approach for the techno-economic evaluation of green H₂ supply chains with green NH₃ as a clean energy carrier of H₂ storage and distribution. A superstructure-based mathematical optimisation model was developed to synthesise the optimum supply chain network configuration for a given optimisation objective. A case study is solved to illustrate the proposed model.