Fluid-dynamics analyses and economic investigation of offshore hydrogen transport via steel and composite pipelines

One of the challenges associated with the use of hydrogen is its storage and transportation. Hydrogen pipelines are an essential infrastructure for transporting hydrogen from offshore production sites to onshore distribution centers. This paper presents an innovative analysis of the pressure drops, velocity profile, and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) in various hydrogen transportation scenarios, examining the influence of pipeline type (steel vs. composite), diameter, and outlet pressure. The role of the compressor and the pipeline, individually and together, was assessed for 1,000 and 100 tons of hydrogen. Notably, the LCOH was highly sensitive to these parameters, with the compressor contribution ranging between 21.52% and 85.11% and the pipeline's share varying from 14.89% to 78.48%. The outflow pressure and diameter of the pipeline have a significant impact on the performance: when 1,000 tons of hydrogen is transported, the internal pressure drop ranges from 2 to 30 bar and the flow velocity can vary between 2 and 25 m/s. For equivalent hydrogen quantities, the composite pipeline exhibits the same trends but with minor variations in the specific values.