EVALUATION OF PIPELINE TRANSPORTATION OF HYDROGEN AND NATURAL-GAS MIXTURES

Technical and economical evaluation of pipeline transportation of hydr ogen, natural gas and their mixtures is presented. Particular emphasis is placed on those aspects of pipeline design that bear a direct rele vance to the final levelized cost of transmission. The conventionally held belief that hydrogen can only be transmitted over relatively shor t distances (because of its low volumetric energy content) is challeng ed by results indicating that under certain conditions (mainly high pr oduction pressures and large enough markets), it may be economically f easible to transport hydrogen or hydrogen-natural gas mixtures over lo ng distances. Attention is also given to the option of transmitting hy drogen through existing natural gas pipeline networks. It is shown tha t inefficiencies introduced due to the use of existing systems can be overlooked because of the large reduction in transmission costs brough t about by the potential to produce hydrogen at elevated pressures.