Designing a sustainable hydrogen supply chain network in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region: Multi-objective optimisation using a Kuwait case-study

Abstract

Located in the Arabian Gulf, Kuwait is a renewable-abundant country ideal for producing hydrogen via solar energy (green hydrogen). With a global transition away from fossil fuels underway due to their adverse environmental impacts, hydrogen is gaining significant traction as a promising clean energy alternative for the transport sector. Despite this, there are still various challenges associated with implementing a hydrogen supply chain, particularly with regard to the conflicting objectives of minimising cost, environmental impact and risk. This study determines the feasibility of implementing a green hydrogen supply chain in Kuwait based on a multi-objective design, to determine which combination of production (electrolysis type), storage method and transportation method is the most optimal for Kuwait. Three objective functions were considered in this study: the hydrogen supply chain cost, environmental impact, and safety/risk. A mathematical formulation based on mixed integer linear programming (MILP) was used, involving a multi-criteria approach where the three considered objectives must be optimised simultaneously, i.e., cost, global warming potential and safety/risk. The multi-objective optimisation approach via the weighted sum method was applied in this study and solved via GAMS. To account for the ranking of multi-objective criteria, a hybrid AHP-TOPSIS approach was used. Results showed that medium and high demand scenarios better reflect the comparative advantages of each considered method in terms of their multi-objective trade-offs. In particular, it was found that higher hydrogen demand amplifies the impact of higher efficiency and operational savings within several production, storage and transportation methods, and that despite higher initial capital investments, these costs are at some point offset by superior operational efficiency as hydrogen production volumes increase. Conversely, using highly efficient electrolysers or transportation methods at low demand was found to limit their performance.