Synthesis and optimization of future hydrogen energy infrastructure planning in Peninsular Malaysia

The potential future use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in the transportation sector necessitates a shift in the current energy supply chain from supplying petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel, to supply hydrogen. This research was carried out to investigate hydrogen demand and determine the optimum hydrogen delivery network employing truck transportation. Peninsular Malaysia was taken as a case study. The hydrogen demand was determined using two method: Firstly, by assuming that the hydrogen demand in Peninsular Malaysia as a function of total vehicle numbers, average total distance traveled and vehicle fuel economy were measured. While the second method investigated based on the current supply of gasoline and diesel from surveys on local petrol stations in Peninsular Malaysia. As a result, the second method was found as more accurate method and adopted as the overall energy demand in Peninsular Malaysia. Objective function for total investment cost for the future hydrogen infrastructure was developed based on the production technologies, type of transport, type of storage, product phase and plant type. The model was solved based on MILP using GAMS. Finally from the result, it can be concluded that liquefied hydrogen produced by natural gas steam reforming and delivered via tanker trucks is the optimum hydrogen supply chain method due to the minimum cost.