Optimization and analysis of a hydrogen liquefaction process integrated with the liquefied natural gas gasification and organic Rankine cycle

Abstract

Combination of the hydrogen pre-cooling and liquefied natural gas gasification processes is forward-looking in the hydrogen liquefaction industry. To enhance the cold energy utilization, a hydrogen liquefaction process integrated in conjunction with a liquefied natural gas gasification process assisted by an organic Rankine cycle is designed. Furthermore, a simplified refrigeration system incorporating a dual-pressure Joule-Brayton cycle is developed to provide efficient cryo-cooling for the hydrogen. A binary mixture consisting of ethylene and propane is preferred as the working fluid for the organic Rankine cycle when liquefied natural gas gasification pressure is 30 bar, which results in 2.2% and 15.5% improvement in the liquefied natural gas cold energy utilization compared to the organic Rankine cycle with the pure refrigeration as the working fluid and the hydrogen pre-cooling process without the organic Rankine cycle, respectively. In the proposed cryo-cooling process using two Joule-Brayton cascade cycles, the utilization rate of the input exergy reaches 48.84%. The exergy loss generated in the compressors and coolers accounts for approximately 66.2% of the total exergy loss. Therefore, they are regarded as the priority targets for improving the hydrogen liquefaction system. After the optimization of the proposed process using the genetic algorithm, optimal results are obtained with a specific energy consumption of 6.59 kWh/kgH2 and an exergy efficiency of 47.0%.