Unlocking Bulk Hydrogen Production, Storage and Transport with Learnings from Real-Life UK Trials

Abstract

Abstract The growing hydrogen economy represents a major opportunity for energy producers - many of whom have existing skills and infrastructure which can be repurposed for this sector. However, the ability to store and transport hydrogen in large quantities is a challenge. Hydrogen as an energy carrier has a relatively low volumetric energy density. A solution for transporting hydrogen at scale between supply and demand centres is therefore needed. The UK Government commissioned ERM to design two industrial scale trials to address these considerations. Key learnings from these projects will be presented to delegates, including technical challenges and solutions, commercial drivers and optimisers, and health, safety and stakeholder considerations and approaches. The two industrial scale trial projects together cover the full value chain for liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) storage, transport and use. LOHCs are a viable means of transporting hydrogen in large quantities and have several advantages over other carriers such as ammonia, methanol or liquid hydrogen. In particular, LOHCs can be stored at ambient pressure and temperature, enabling the repurposing of existing oil infrastructure for storage and transportation. The first industrial trial evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of storing LOHC in conventional oil storage tanks, transporting it via oil pipelines, transporting it at bulk scale using conventional marine tankers and loading/unloading at existing oil jetties using standard equipment (loading arms, valves, pumps, etc). The second industrial trial involves demonstrating a design for a novel cascade tankage system that can supply large quantities of hydrogen at high pressure for a range of applications. The system stores ‘charged’ LOHC (i.e. LOHC carrying a high quantity of hydrogen) and is designed to enable hydrogen to be released from the LOHC and the ‘depleted’ LOHC (i.e. LOHC with hydrogen removed) to be stored in a unique cascade tankage system. The released hydrogen is compressed and used to supply hydrogen applications at high pressure (300-700 bar) or, at lower levels of compression, used to directly connect to a hydrogen supply line. Insights from these industrial scale trials will be presented to delegates. The learnings cover the entire LOHC value chain including storage, transport and use in a marine context - and there will be particular focus on the technical and economic potential to repurpose existing oil and gas infrastructure for hydrogen transport via LOHC. The ability to store and transport hydrogen in large quantities will be key to unlocking large scale hydrogen production opportunities. By sharing insights from two industrial scale trial projects covering the whole LOHC production, storage, transport and use value chain, delegates can benefit from the latest exciting learnings on this innovative solution, through real-life current projects.