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Biomass gasification to hydrogen

Screening of hydrogen yield (kg/t biomass) and levelized cost (EUR/kg) from thermochemical biomass gasification + water-gas shift.

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Open Jack

Founder · OpenJack

Cost & LCOH

Delivered feedstock energy price. IEA Task 33 reference is 20 EUR/MWh; this is the dominant, transparent cost term.

EUR/MWh

Real discount rate used to compute the capital recovery factor (CRF) for annualizing CAPEX.

Plant economic lifetime for the levelized cost calculation.

years

Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH)

Total annual cost divided by annual H2 production

…EUR/kg

Total project CAPEX (all-in)

Installed plant cost + indirects/owner costs

…EUR

Scaled specific CAPEX

Equipment cost intensity after scale law and clamps

…EUR/kW

Annualized CAPEX (CRF-based)

Total project CAPEX as an annual payment equivalent

…EUR/year

Annual feedstock cost

Biomass energy purchased per year (dominant cost term)

…EUR/year

Total annual cost

Annualized CAPEX + fixed O&M + feedstock

…EUR/year

LCOH breakdown: capital component

Annualized CAPEX share of the levelized cost

…EUR/kg

LCOH breakdown: feedstock component

Feedstock share of the levelized cost

…EUR/kg
LCOH vs biomass price

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Yield & feedstock

Energy efficiency from biomass LHV in to hydrogen LHV out. IEA Task 33 reports 40-70%; report central value ~67%.

Moisture content of as-received biomass. Higher moisture lowers per-tonne yield and adds a drying parasitic load.

Hydrogen yield (as-received biomass)

Per-tonne yield after moisture correction (main yield metric)

…kg/t

Biomass-to-hydrogen efficiency (LHV)

Energy efficiency from biomass LHV in to H2 LHV out

…%

Hydrogen yield (dry biomass)

Energy-balance yield per tonne of dry feedstock

…kg/t

Specific biomass consumption

Biomass energy required per kg of hydrogen

…MWh/kg

Effective efficiency (after drying penalty)

Conversion efficiency derated by the moisture drying penalty

…fraction
Sensitivity to feedstock moisture

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Production

Nameplate hydrogen production capacity of the gasification + WGS + PSA train, on an LHV-energy basis.

Average annual utilization. Drives operating hours and annual production. 91% maps to ~8000 h/year (IEA cost basis).

Annual hydrogen production

Plant-level annual H2 output

…kg/year

Annual biomass energy input

Feedstock energy consumed per year

…MWh/year

CO2 co-product intensity

CO2 produced per kg H2 (for CCS/BECCS screening)

…kg/kg

Annual CO2 co-product

CO2 available for capture/storage per year

…t/year

Annual operating hours

Operating hours implied by the capacity factor

…h/year
Scale effect vs plant output

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CAPEX breakdown

Equipment purchase cost

Gasifier + gas cleanup/WGS + PSA package supply (excl. installation)

…EUR

Installed plant cost

Equipment + installation (excl. owner costs)

…EUR

Equipment breakdown: gasifier island

Indicative gasifier share of equipment cost

…EUR

Equipment breakdown: gas cleanup + WGS

Indicative gas conditioning and water-gas-shift share

…EUR

Equipment breakdown: PSA + balance of plant

Indicative purification and BoP share

…EUR
Equipment cost breakdown

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About

Calculator context

Screening calculator for hydrogen produced by thermochemical biomass gasification, water-gas shift (WGS) and PSA purification. It couples two headline outputs: (A) hydrogen yield per tonne of biomass and (B) the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH, EUR/kg). Yield uses the energy-balance form h2 = 1000 * eta * (biomass_LHV / H2_LHV), reproducing the IEA Bioenergy Task 33 (2025) headline of ~100 kg H2 per tonne of dry biomass at 67% efficiency, then corrects for feedstock moisture. LCOH levelizes annualized CAPEX (scale-law equipment cost + installation + owner factors, recovered via CRF), fixed O&M and the dominant biomass feedstock cost over annual production. At the IEA reference (200 MW output, 8000 h/year, 20 EUR/MWh biomass) the model returns ~4 EUR/kg, within the published 2.2-7.4 EUR/kg cross-study span. A third production route distinct from electrolysis and natural-gas reforming.

Model

97 variables — inputs, calculations and outputs, with their dependencies.

97 variables shown of 97
VariableValueUnitDepends on
200MW—
91%—
67%—
25%—
20EUR/MWh—
0.08ratio—
25years—
VariableFormulaUnitDepends on
if((<=0)+(<=0)+(>)+(<*)+(>*)+(<0)+(>=)+(<0)+(<0)+(<=0)>0,1,0)bool
*—
-—
clamp(+*,,)—
*—
/MWh/kg
*kW
*MWh/year
*(/max(,))^(-)EUR/kW
clamp(,,)1/year
(*(1+)^)/max(((1+)^-1),)—
*EUR/year
VariableFormulaUnitDepends on
**h/year
/fraction
*%
**(/)kg/t
clamp(*,,)kg/t
/MWh/kg
/max(,)MWh/kg
clamp(*(/max(,)),,)kg/kg
/max(,)kg/year
/max(,)MWh/year
*/t/year
clamp(,,)EUR/kW
*EUR
*EUR
*EUR
*EUR
*(+)EUR
*(+)EUR
*EUR/year
*EUR/year
++EUR/year
/max(,)EUR/kg
max(-*/,)EUR/kg
/max(,)EUR/kg
/max(,)EUR/kg
*EUR/kg
*EUR/kg
*EUR/kg
*kg/t

Assumptions

49 assumptions used in the calculations

  • Prevents division-by-zero and NaN propagation.

    Market range Not applicable.

    0.000001
    Numerical stability constant.

  • Avoids inline literals in DSL expressions per spec.

    Market range Exact.

    1
    Numeric constant.

  • Used for capacity-factor annualization.

    Market range 8760 (8784 leap year).

    8760h/year
    Calendar-year hours.

  • Converts hydrogen LHV (MJ/kg) to MWh/kg.

    Market range Exact.

    3600MJ/MWh
    Unit conversion.

  • Converts percent inputs (capacity factor, efficiency, moisture) to fractions.

    Market range Exact.

    0.01
    Unit conversion.

  • Converts fractions back to percent for reporting and bound checks.

    Market range Exact.

    100
    Unit conversion.

  • Converts per-tonne yield and tonne CO2 reporting.

    Market range Exact.

    1000kg/t
    Unit conversion.

  • Converts plant MW capacity to kW for specific-CAPEX costing.

    Market range Exact.

    1000kW/MW
    Unit conversion.

  • Hydrogen lower heating value, used for energy<->mass conversions.

    120MJ/kg
    Standard heating value (H2tools).

  • Dry-basis biomass LHV; reproduces the IEA 100 kg/t value at 67% efficiency.

    18MJ/kg
    EUBIA dry-matter heating value.

  • Reference efficiency anchoring the CO2 intensity proxy.

    0.67
    IEA Task 33 central efficiency.

  • CO2 intensity at the nominal efficiency, before efficiency scaling and clamping.

    17.5kg/kg
    IEA Task 33 carbon balance.

  • Lower bound for CO2 co-product intensity.

    Market range 15 kg/kg (band floor).

    15kg/kg
    IEA Task 33 carbon balance (low).

  • Upper bound for CO2 co-product intensity.

    Market range 20 kg/kg (band ceiling).

    20kg/kg
    IEA Task 33 carbon balance (high).

  • Slope of the drying parasitic penalty vs moisture fraction.

    0.3
    Screening drying-penalty coefficient.

  • Lower clamp of the drying penalty (no efficiency gain from moisture).

    Market range 1 (by definition).

    1
    Clamp lower bound.

  • Upper clamp of the drying penalty factor.

    1.6
    Clamp upper bound.

  • Anchor size for scaling specific CAPEX.

    200000kW
    IEA-adopted reference plant size.

  • Reference equipment cost intensity at the 200 MW reference size.

    3200EUR/kW
    Calibrated to IEA Task 33 central LCOH.

  • Economies-of-scale exponent for the equipment cost curve.

    0.75
    Scale exponent for thermochemical plant.

  • Lower clamp for scaled specific CAPEX.

    1500EUR/kW
    Clamp minimum.

  • Upper clamp for scaled specific CAPEX.

    6000EUR/kW
    Clamp maximum.

  • Installation labor, foundations, piping and commissioning at screening level.

    0.35
    Installation factor on equipment cost.

  • Engineering, permitting, contingency and owner costs.

    0.2
    Indirect+owner factor on installed cost.

  • Gasifier island share of equipment cost.

    0.45
    Equipment cost allocation share.

  • Gas cleanup and water-gas-shift share of equipment cost.

    0.3
    Equipment cost allocation share.

  • PSA purification and balance-of-plant share of equipment cost.

    0.25
    Equipment cost allocation share.

  • Routine maintenance, staffing and service at screening level.

    0.041/year
    Fixed O&M fraction of total CAPEX.

  • Prevents implausibly low O&M fractions.

    0.021/year
    Clamp minimum for O&M fraction.

  • Prevents implausibly high O&M fractions.

    0.081/year
    Clamp maximum for O&M fraction.

  • Standard HHV anchor for hydrogen.

    Market range 142 MJ/kg (standard).

    142MJ/kg
    Higher heating value of hydrogen.

  • IEA report's reference dry-basis yield used as benchmark.

    Market range ~100 kg/t (IEA headline).

    100kg/t
    IEA Task 33 headline yield anchor.

  • Literature minimum thermochemical H2 yield.

    Market range 40 kg/t (low end of span).

    40kg/t
    IEA 2024a yield range (low).

  • Literature maximum thermochemical H2 yield.

    Market range 190 kg/t (high end of span).

    190kg/t
    IEA 2024a yield range (high).

  • Minimum plausible biomass-to-H2 efficiency.

    Market range 40% (LHV basis).

    0.4
    IEA Task 33 efficiency range (low).

  • Maximum plausible biomass-to-H2 efficiency.

    Market range 70% (LHV basis).

    0.7
    IEA Task 33 efficiency range (high).

  • Reference H2 plant output for the published cost basis.

    Market range 200 MW (IEA cost basis).

    200MW
    IEA Task 33 / Brown et al. 2020 reference output.

  • Reference annual operating hours for the IEA cost basis.

    Market range 8000 h/year (IEA basis).

    8000h/year
    IEA Task 33 reference operation.

  • Reference biomass price for the published LCOH.

    Market range 20 EUR/MWh (IEA reference).

    20EUR/MWh
    IEA Task 33 reference biomass price.

  • Reference-plant LCOH low bound.

    Market range 2.7 EUR/kg (IEA Fig.4).

    2.7EUR/kg
    IEA Task 33 Fig.4 (low).

  • Reference-plant LCOH high bound.

    Market range 4.0 EUR/kg (IEA Fig.4).

    4EUR/kg
    IEA Task 33 Fig.4 (high).

  • Central reference LCOH for benchmarking.

    Market range ~4 EUR/kg (IEA central).

    4EUR/kg
    IEA Task 33 central LCOH.

  • Cross-study LCOH minimum.

    Market range 2.2 EUR/kg (Table 6 low).

    2.2EUR/kg
    IEA Task 33 Table 6 (min).

  • Cross-study LCOH maximum.

    Market range 7.4 EUR/kg (Table 6 high).

    7.4EUR/kg
    IEA Task 33 Table 6 (max).

  • CO2-credited LCOH low bound.

    Market range 2.2 EUR/kg (Fig.5 low).

    2.2EUR/kg
    IEA Task 33 Fig.5 (low).

  • CO2-credited LCOH high bound.

    Market range 3.5 EUR/kg (Fig.5 high).

    3.5EUR/kg
    IEA Task 33 Fig.5 (high).

  • Net CO2 negative-emissions credit.

    Market range ~50 EUR/t (net).

    50EUR/t
    IEA Task 33 net CO2 credit.

  • As-received NCV at 20% moisture.

    Market range 15.2 GJ/t (20% moisture).

    15.2GJ/t
    EUBIA softwood chips @20% moisture.

  • As-received NCV at 50% moisture.

    Market range 9.5 GJ/t (50% moisture).

    9.5GJ/t
    EUBIA softwood chips @50% moisture.

Sources

Primary reference

IEA Bioenergy Task 33 — Biomass gasification for hydrogen production (Feb 2025).