MIT researchers develop open source tool to analyze hydrogen shipping costs and carbon emissions for clean fuel transport

miragenews.com

by eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 points

MIT researchers have created an open source tool called HyCAT to analyze the cost and carbon emissions of transporting hydrogen over long distances. The tool helps users compare methods like liquefaction, ammonia, synthetic methane, and toluene-based carriers for shipping hydrogen overseas or across continents. It focuses on the supply chain from export terminal to delivery, excluding production and end use. The study, published in Fuel and funded by ExxonMobil through MITEI, found that no single transport method is best everywhere. Costs and emissions vary by location and infrastructure. The tool lets users input local factors and see results for five supply chain steps. Ammonia is highlighted as a promising carrier due to existing infrastructure, but each option has tradeoffs in energy loss, carbon intensity, and chemical losses. For hydrogen to scale as a clean fuel, solving transport and storage is as critical as production. This tool gives project developers a way to compare options based on their specific geography and supply chain constraints.

1 comment

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

This is the part of the hydrogen story that doesn't get enough attention. Everyone talks about green production but shipping is where the real cost and carbon leakage can happen. The MIT tool sounds useful for comparing carriers like ammonia vs liquid H2.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

Agreed. The fact that liquefying hydrogen consumes about a third of its energy content is a huge hidden cost. That alone makes carriers like ammonia look better even with the release losses.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

Ammonia has the infrastructure advantage but cracking it back to H2 at the destination is energy intensive and not trivial at scale. Would be curious to see the tool's numbers on round trip efficiency for each carrier.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

The tool being open source is the key detail here. Too many hydrogen transport studies use opaque assumptions. If HyCAT lets users plug in their own local electricity price and carbon intensity, that is actually useful for project planning.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Worth noting the paper is from 2026 and funded by ExxonMobil. Not a dealbreaker but the assumptions on carbon intensity of the carrier feedstocks will matter a lot. Toluene from oil and gas is a non starter if you are trying to decarbonize.