Browsing by Author "Borges, Rui Pedro"
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- Analysis of Seawater Electrolysis Technologies for Green Hydrogen ProductionPublication . Azevedo, Marcelo; Serralha, F. N.; Borges, Rui PedroThe main goal of this study is to understand the technical and economic feasibility of installing and operating a seawater desalination plant to supply water to a GW-scale water electrolysis process. That hydrogen production facility should be powered by dedicated renewable energy sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic. The announcement of significant investments in hydrogen production in the Sines region makes it relevant to perform a detailed analysis of the operation of this type of system that will present challenges with regards to the electricity and water supply. Water, in particular freshwater, is a scarce resource in the south of Portugal and the installation of an industry that uses large amounts of water as feedstock can place considerable pressure on existing reserves. Given the proximity of the region to the Atlantic Ocean, it is appropriate to evaluate the installation of a desalination plant and analyze the overall impact of that option on hydrogen production. The levelized cost of desalinated water is estimated and compared to the cost of grid water. It has been found that the levelized cost of desalinated water is lower than the price of potable water supplied to the local industries by the Sines municipal water service (Águas de Santo André). The impact on the levelized cost of hydrogen is analyzed. It is shown that the installation and operation of the desalination unit increases the levelized cost of hydrogen by less than 1%. Seawater desalination is shown to be a technically viable alternative for producing the water feedstock for a GW- scale electrolysis facility that could alleviate pressure on local freshwater sources
- Contribution of sustainable fuels for the future of the energy sectorPublication . Serralha, F. N.; Dias, Nilmara; Duarte, Raquel; Borges, Rui PedroThe main driving forces of the development of alternative energy are growing energy demand combined with the search for energy independence and environmental issues, such as global warming. Throughout this chapter, the sustainability of the currently most used alternative fuels, their characteristics, applica- tions, global consumption, and demand data will be discussed. The different strategies and policies for the adoption of renewable energies also will be discussed. Fuels are compared by their contributions to the development of the circularity of the energy sector, by the feedstock and process efficiency. The advantages, disadvantages, and barriers that each one presents are evaluated to better understand which are the most promising and how their production and consumption can be increased. The aim of this chapter is to present the potential alternative fuels within their applications and analyze their contribu- tion to make the energy sector more circular and sustainable.