Abstract
Hydrogen is an important clean energy carrier that can facilitate and promote clean energy production and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. However, long-term storage and long-distance transportation of hydrogen are challenging owing to its low energy density, which can be effectively enhanced via liquefaction, an energy- and cost-intensive process. Commercial hydrogen liquefaction processes exhibit specific energy consumptions in the range of 12.0–15.5 kWh/kg with an exergy efficiency of 19.0%–23.6%. This study presents an energy-efficient and cost-effective process configuration for producing liquid hydrogen through stepwise cooling and subsequent ortho–para conversion. The energy intensive precooling cycle is divided into two sub-cycles employing carbon dioxide as a refrigerant. This process exploits the benefits of carbon dioxide in a simple yet efficient configuration. A specific energy consumption of 7.63 kWh/kg was achieved, along with an exergy efficiency of 31.4%. The coefficient of performance and figure of merit of this study was 0.16 and 0.31, respectively. Economic evaluation yielded total equipment and total annualized costs of $12.3 million and $24.2 million/year, respectively. The proposed process can assist in achieving a sustainable and green energy economy by enhancing the overall hydrogen value chain through competitive and efficient hydrogen storage and transportation.
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