Hydrogen Plant Research Articles

Design and Optimization of a Radial Inflow Turbine for Use with a Low Temperature ORC

This study aims to design and optimize an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and radial inflow turbine to recover waste heat from a polymer exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. ORCs can take advantage of low-quality waste heat sources. Developments in this area have seen previously unusable, small waste heat sources become available for exploitation. Hydrogen PEM fuel cells operate at low temperatures (70 °C) and are in used in a range of applications, for example, as a balancing or backup power source in renewable hydrogen plants. The efficiency of an ORC is significantly affected by the source temperature and the efficiency of the expander. In this case, a radial inflow turbine was selected due to the high efficiency in ORCs with high density fluids. Small scale radial inflow turbines are of particular interest for improving the efficiency of small-scale low temperature cycles. Turbines generally have higher efficiency than positive displacement expanders, which are typically used. In this study, the turbine design from the mean-line analysis is also validated against the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations conducted on the optimized machine. For the fuel cell investigated in this study, with a 5 kW electrical output, a potential additional 0.7 kW could be generated through the use of the ORC. The ORC’s output represents a possible 14% increase in performance over the fuel cell without waste heat recovery (WHR).

Feasibility Study of Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption for CO2 Capture From an SMR Hydrogen Plant: Comparison Between Synthesis Gas Capture and Tail Gas Capture

In this paper, a feasibility study was carried out to evaluate cyclic adsorption processes for capturing CO2 from either shifted synthesis gas or H2 PSA tail gas of an industrial-scale SMR-based hydrogen plant. It is expected that hydrogen is to be widely used in place of natural gas in various industrial sectors where electrification would be rather challenging. A SMR-based hydrogen plant is currently dominant in the market, as it can produce hydrogen at scale in the most economical way. Its CO2 emission must be curtailed significantly by its integration with CCUS. Two Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA) systems including a rinse step were designed to capture CO2 from an industrial-scale SMR-based hydrogen plant: one for the shifted synthesis gas and the other for the H2 PSA tail gas. Given the shapes of adsorption isotherms, zeolite 13X and activated carbon were selected for tail gas and syngas capture options, respectively. A simple Equilibrium Theory model developed for the limiting case of complete regeneration was taken to analyse the VPSA systems in this feasibility study. The process performances were compared to each other with respect to product recovery, bed productivity and power consumption. It was found that CO2 could be captured more cost-effectively from the syngas than the tail gas, unless the desorption pressure was too low. The energy consumption of the VPSA was comparable to those of the conventional MDEA processes.

European Union funds 7 decarbonization projects

The European Union’s Innovation Fund will put a total of more than $1.2 billion into seven decarbonization efforts across the continent, including a carbon-capture-and-sequestration (CCS) project at BASF’s chemical complex in Antwerp, Belgium . That project, dubbed Kairos@C, will install partner company Air Liquide’s Cryocap cryogenic carbon-capture technology, as well as infrastructure to pump the carbon dioxide into permanent undersea storage. Over 10 years starting in 2025, the firms say, they will sequester 14.2 million metric tons of CO 2 beneath the North Sea. Though not as common today as systems that catch CO2 in amine solvents , cryogenic carbon capture is an up-and-coming technology. The Cryocap platform planned for the Antwerp complex is already in use at Air Liquide’s hydrogen plant in Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine, France, where the firm says it has been making low-carbon H 2 since 2015. The BASF–Air Liquide project will lower the activation barrier for more CCS

A standalone solar thermochemical water splitting hydrogen plant with high-temperature molten salt: Thermodynamic and economic analyses and multi-objective optimization

Alternative methods for clean production of hydrogen have been proposed recently. Some of these methods utilize water instead of hydrocarbons as the hydrogen source. The copper-chlorine (Cu–Cl) thermochemical cycle is one of the most promising methods that attracted the attention of numerous researchers and organizations in recent years. In this paper, the design and integration of a standalone solar power tower (SPT) system with LiNaK high-temperature carbonate molten salt with a four-step Cu–Cl cycle is investigated. The integrated system does not rely on external or auxiliary energy sources such as grid electricity or natural gas. The proposed system is investigated in terms of thermodynamic and economic analyses, and the system performance and hydrogen production cost are determined. For the base case, the thermal efficiencies of the Cu–Cl cycle, supercritical steam Rankine cycle, and overall system are 40.4%, 45.74%, and 28.77%, respectively. The hydrogen capacity of the system is 1530.4 kg/h, and the total capital investment is 811.04 million dollars. The levelized cost of hydrogen is estimated as $9.47/kg H2. Based on the multi-objective optimization results, the optimal system design has an overall thermal efficiency and levelized cost of hydrogen of 29.18% and $7.58/kg H2, respectively.

A flexible analytical model for operational investigation of solar hydrogen plants

Hydrogen will become a dominant energy carrier in the future and the efficiency and lifetime cost of its production through water electrolysis is a major research focus. Alongside efforts to offer optimum solutions through plant design and sizing, it is also necessary to develop a flexible virtualised replica of renewable hydrogen plants, that not only models compatibility with the “plug-and-play” nature of many facilities, but that also identifies key elements for optimisation of system operation. This study presents a model for a renewable hydrogen production plant based on real-time historical and present-day datasets of PV connected to a virtualised grid-connected AC microgrid comprising different technologies of batteries, electrolysers, and fuel cells. Mathematical models for each technology were developed from chemical and physical metrics of the plant. The virtualised replica is the first step toward the implementation of a digital twin of the system, and accurate validation of the system behaviour when updated with real-time data. As a case study, a solar hydrogen pilot plant consisting of a 60 kW Solar PV, a 40 kW PEM electrolyser, a 15 kW LIB battery and a 5 kW PEM fuel cell were simulated and analysed. Two effective operational factors on the plant's performance are defined: (i) electrolyser power settings to determine appropriate hydrogen production over twilight periods and/or overnight and (ii) a user-defined minimum threshold for battery state of charge to prevent charge depletion overnight if the electrolyser load is higher than its capacity. The objective of this modelling is to maximise hydrogen yield while both loss of power supply probability (LPSP) and microgrid excess power are minimised. This analysis determined: (i) a hydrogen yield of 38–39% from solar DC energy to hydrogen energy produced, (ii) an LPSP <2.6 × 10−4 and (iii) < 2% renewable energy lost to the grid as excess electricity for the case study.

Monolith may build facility in South Korea

Monolith has signed an agreement with the South Korean conglomerate SK to build a hydrogen and carbon black plant in South Korea. Monolith has a plasma torch technology that converts natural gas into hydrogen and elemental carbon without producing carbon dioxide. The company completed its first plant, in Hallam, Nebraska, in 2020. It is now building a second plant in Nebraska that is 10 times as large and will use the hydrogen to make ammonia. SK invested in Monolith earlier this year.

Monolith may build hydrogen plant in South Korea

Monolith may build hydrogen plant in South Korea

Development and tri-objective optimization of a novel biomass to power and hydrogen plant: A comparison of fueling with biomass gasification or biomass digestion

Regarding the low energy density of solid biomass, it usually is converted to gaseous bio-fuels to be utilized in power generation systems. In this regard, the biomass gasification and digestion are of two major conversion routes. The main goal of this research is to make a comparison between biomass gasification and digestion to fuel a power and hydrogen cogeneration plant. The proposed plant is composed of a micro-scale gas turbine and an absorption power cycle for exhaust waste heat recovery of the gas turbine. The generated power by the absorption cycle is utilized in an alkaline electrolyzer for hydrogen production. Thermodynamic, economic and electrochemical models are developed to simulate and investigate the systems performances from exergy, economic and environmental standpoints. Also to determine the best operating conditions, tri-objective optimization is conducted based on maximizing the exergy efficiency and minimizing CO2 emission and product cost. The results indicate that the digester-based system yields higher values of power and hydrogen production, and exergy efficiency as well as lower value of CO2 emission compared to gasifier-based system. It implies that selection of the better system between the two considered ones depends on the user/designer special criteria.

Assessing the capacity of renewable power production for green energy system: a way forward towards zero carbon electrification.

Ghana suffers from inadequate power supply due to increasing demand though it is amongst the African nations with the highest access to electricity. This research aims to assess the techno-economic potential of wind and solar energy potential for Ghana's northern part. We employ the Weibull distribution function, levelized cost of energy, and net present cost metrics for the economic study. The wind and solar energy resource's structure generated 72,284 kWh yearly. Both systems were identified to be too expensive if implemented under the current financing conditions in the country. The PV systems generated 38,859 kWh/year, representing 53.76% of the total electricity generated in a year, generating renewable hydrogen in the country. The findings show that sizing and management of renewable plants will fulfill the basic annual cooking demands of the populations, which are 785 kg H2 in Ghana. The countries' capacity for developing solar hydrogen plants is further suggested by generating new solar hydrogen opportunity charts. Considering the significance of hydrogen energy under the renewable energy output, we recommend using hybrid systems for hydrogen production. The findings reveal which flexibility options are critical in key stages of the energy transition to a 70, 80, 90, and 100% renewable energy system.

Flexible Electricity Dispatch of an Integrated Solar Combined Cycle through Thermal Energy Storage and Hydrogen Production

In this work, the flexible operation of an Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) power plant has been optimized considering two different energy storage approaches. The objective of this proposal is to meet variable users’ grid demand for an extended period at the lowest cost of electricity. Medium temperature thermal energy storage (TES) and hydrogen generation configurations have been analyzed from a techno-economic point of view. Results found from annual solar plant performance indicate that molten salts storage solution is preferable based on the lower levelized cost of electricity (0.122 USD/kWh compared to 0.158 USD/kWh from the hydrogen generation case) due to the lower conversion efficiencies of hydrogen plant components. However, the hydrogen plant configuration exceeded, in terms of plant availability and grid demand coverage, as fewer design constraints resulted in a total demand coverage of 2155 h per year. It was also found that grid demand curves from industrial countries limit the deployment of medium-temperature TES systems coupled to ISCC power plants, since their typical demand curves are characterized by lower power demand around solar noon when solar radiation is higher. In such scenarios, the Brayton turbine design is constrained by noon grid demand, which limits the solar field and receiver thermal power design.

Prospects of hydrogen technologies in power and chemical industries

THE PURPOSE. Consider the use of hydrogen technologies in energy. The total production of hydrogen in Russia is about 5 million tons with a global consumption of 72 million tons. However, in the case of toughening of carbon regulation by importers of Russian products, the production of hydrogen in the Russian Federation may double. The roadmap «Development of hydrogen energy in Russia» stipulates that Gazprom and Rosatom will become the first hydrogen producers in the country - in 2024 they should launch pilot hydrogen plants, including at nuclear power plants. METHODS. To realize the potential in the country and achieve the goals laid down in the Energy Strategy, the departments have prepared a special action plan (roadmap) for the development of hydrogen energy in Russia until 2024, which was approved by Russian government on October 12, 2020. The main goal of this plan is called the organization of priority work on the formation in Russia of a high-performance export-oriented hydrogen energy, developing on the basis of modern technologies and provided with highly qualified personnel. RESULTS. Transportation and safe storage remains one of the key issues in hydrogen energy. The complexity of this problem is determined by the fact that in the free state hydrogen is one of thelow-boiling gases, in liquid and solid state more than an order of magnitude lighter than water and an order of magnitude lighter than gasoline. The molecules of the substance are so small that they can seep through the atomic structure of a metal container at temperatures above minus 253 ° C. Maintaining such a temperature in a large volume for a long time is energy-intensive. Another problem is hydrogen embrittlement and destruction of metals by atomic hydrogen. Even high-strength steels, as well as titanium and nickel alloys, are susceptible to it. CONCLUSION. The demand for hydrogen is growing due to the shift to the consumption of cleaner and lighter fuel oils, while the petroleum feedstock is getting heavier. But at the same time, the potential of natural gas has not yet been exhausted, which already now contributes to the low-carbon development of the economy. Skepticism about hydrogen technologies will disappear only when one of them gains relatively widespread use. At the same time, there is no doubt that hydrogen is very relevant for the creation of chemical current generators. This is of great importance for transport, and for distributed energy, and for a number of other areas.

The Potential of Gas Switching Partial Oxidation Using Advanced Oxygen Carriers for Efficient H2 Production with Inherent CO2 Capture

The hydrogen economy has received resurging interest in recent years, as more countries commit to net-zero CO2 emissions around the mid-century. “Blue” hydrogen from natural gas with CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is one promising sustainable hydrogen supply option. Although conventional CO2 capture imposes a large energy penalty, advanced process concepts using the chemical looping principle can produce blue hydrogen at efficiencies even exceeding the conventional steam methane reforming (SMR) process without CCS. One such configuration is gas switching reforming (GSR), which uses a Ni-based oxygen carrier material to catalyze the SMR reaction and efficiently supply the required process heat by combusting an off-gas fuel with integrated CO2 capture. The present study investigates the potential of advanced La-Fe-based oxygen carrier materials to further increase this advantage using a gas switching partial oxidation (GSPOX) process. These materials can overcome the equilibrium limitations facing conventional catalytic SMR and achieve direct hydrogen production using a water-splitting reaction. Results showed that the GSPOX process can achieve mild efficiency improvements relative to GSR in the range of 0.6–4.1%-points, with the upper bound only achievable by large power and H2 co-production plants employing a highly efficient power cycle. These performance gains and the avoidance of toxicity challenges posed by Ni-based oxygen carriers create a solid case for the further development of these advanced materials. If successful, results from this work indicate that GSPOX blue hydrogen plants can outperform an SMR benchmark with conventional CO2 capture by more than 10%-points, both in terms of efficiency and CO2 avoidance.

Plug Power, partners invest in green H2

The fuel-cell maker Plug Power will build a green hydrogen plant in south-central Pennsylvania with the power provider Brookfield Renewable Partners. Plug says the electrolysis plant will produce 15 metric tons (t) of H 2 per day when it starts up in late 2022, drawing power from the Susquehanna River’s Holtwood Dam. Plug is also planning a 45 t green H 2 plant near Rochester, New York. Separately, Plug will put $200 million into an H 2 infrastructure investment fund that it is forming with the cryogenic equipment company Chart Industries and the oil-field services firm Baker Hughes, each of which is contributing $60 million.

Safety Investigation of Hazardous Materials Released from the Combined High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor – Hydrogen Production Plant Using ALOHA Software

Safety Investigation of Hazardous Materials Released from The Combined High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (HTGR) – Hydrogen Production Plant Using ALOHA software has been carried out. Currently, most of studies for HTGR-hydrogen plant are focused only on the impact of hydrogen presence to the HTGR plant safety. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the presence of natural gas and synthetic gas from Steam Methane Reforming hydrogen plant on the combine HTGR-Hydrogen production system using ALOHA software. Three selected hazardous materials: CH 4 , CO and H 2 were analyzed. The selected potential hazards of the hazardous materials after leaking from the pipe were downwind suffocation/toxication, flammable area and blast area from vapor cloud explosion. Two types of parameter, i.e., meteorological dispersion (including wind speed, temperature, humidity, nuclear building air changes for day and night) and source release parameters (including pipeline length, and distance from the reactor building to the hydrogen plant), were selected for this study. The effects of the parameters on the hazard distance were then analyzed. The study shows that hydrogen detector needs to be installed at the plant to ensure safety of field operator. Furthermore, CO adsorber and H 2 recombiner should be installed at the Reactor HVAC system for CO poisoning and H 2 fire protection. Provision of a separation distance of more than 250 meters or construction of a blast barrier between the reactor building and the hydrogen plant is also recommended to protect the reactor from H 2 explosion hazard.

Experimental research of a re-equipment wheeled vehicle category M1 into electromobile

Today, there are more than 1 billion ICE equipped vehicles worldwide. Some of them are electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles of various types, hydrogen and gas power plants. The part of environmentally friendly wheeled vehicles is very small. With an increase in the price of oil products in the foreseeable future, all these cars with ICE will have to be either disposed of or refurbished. Moreover, mainly for other types of energy, more environmentally friendly, with the aim of further using the resource of the body and transmission, in order to provide them with the opportunity to develop their resource. One of the promising areas is the re-equipment of the power plant to an electric or hybrid one.Ensuring the required indicators of traction and speed properties of electric vehicles is a difficult task and requires a more detailed assessment due to the great difficulties in finding the initial data and internal parameters of the system. The presented article considers the vehicle ZAZ 965 "Zaporozhets" of category M1, which was re-equipment into a battery electromobile. The vehicle is equipped with a traction electric motor Balkankar DS 3.6/7.5/14, a power storage battery with lithium cells, a maximum voltage of 100.8 V and a capacity of 6.45 kW∙h. The traction motor control system is impulse with electronic power switches. Traction motor power is controlled by a controller that changes the pulse-width modulation (PWM) depending on the control signal from the control unit and the logic of the system. The change in PWM signal also occurs when the thermal protection is triggered, and in the event of a voltage drop on the power storage battery.Experimental road studies have been carried out, electricity consumption by a vehicle at various speeds has been determined, a coefficient has been determined that characterizes the ratio of consumed electrical energy to the kinetic energy of a vehicle. Comparison of the results of theoretical and experimental studies testifies to the adequacy of the developed mathematical model and the initial provisions underlying the calculation of the indicators of the efficiency of the use of electric energy by electromobile re-equipment from common vehi-cle with ICE.

Techno-economic analysis of Camelina-derived hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel within the US context

This study explores the techno-economic analysis of producing Camelina-derived Hydroprocessed Renewable Jet (HRJ) fuel in Montana using the hydro-deoxygenation (HDO) pathway. The HDO method requires added hydrogen and increases cost. The estimated breakeven price of Camelina-derived HRJ fuel generated from the HDO reaction follows the UOP Honeywell procedure. Oilseed cultivation, lipid extraction, and HRJ fuel production were evaluated to estimate the HRJ fuel breakeven price. In an extraction facility with annual processing capacity of 3000 Mg, the breakeven price of Camelina oil was $0.35 per liter over a 20-year operating period and $0.34 per liter over a 30-year period. For a 20-year operating period, the deterministic breakeven price of HRJ fuel was $0.87 per liter with a commercial hydrogen and $1.01 per liter when the plant generated its own hydrogen supply; a 30-year operating period had $0.02 per liter savings. The sensitivity analysis indicates a breakeven price between $0.87 and $1.44 per liter in a facility with an on-site hydrogen plant, and between $0.75 and $1.26 per liter when purchasing hydrogen. An additional $0.02 per liter of capital investment cost is incurred to produce HRJ fuel instead of renewable diesel. Depending on the fuel product, investors would have a capital cost penalty of $0.13 to $0.15 per liter for producing hydrogen on-site.

Evaluation of Thermoelectric Properties of Doped β-Iron Disilicide Prepared by the Powder Metallurgy Technique

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) offers a potential application in harvesting waste-heat energy into usable electrical power. β-iron disilicide (β-FeSi2) thermoelectric is applicable in elevated temperature systems such as hydrogen plants, copper reverberatory furnace and copper refining furnace. In this work, high TE performance Mn doped p-type and Co doped n-type thermoelectric (TE) β-iron disilicide compacts were fabricated for TEG using powder metallurgy route. The effects of variation in type and quantity of dopants [p-type dopant: Mn: stoichiometry Fe1−xMnxSi2 (x = 0.04 − 0.12) or n-type dopant: Co: stoichiometry Fe1−yCoySi2 (y = 0.01 − 0.05)] on thermoelectric properties were studied. Significant improvement in ZT was observed compared to earlier research works for this material system. This result is a positive indication for the potential use of β-FeSi2 in the high temperature TEG. In this work, the working efficiency was also evaluated which was not mentioned in the earlier research works.

Selection and research of new modifications of stationary promoted nickel-copper-aluminum catalysts

The paper presents the results of research and development of a continuous technology for the pre-contact hydrogenation of cottonseed oil on stationary and powdered nickel-copper catalysts. It was found that the recommended technology allows to significantly increase the productivity of hydrogenation plants and reduces the content of trans-isomerized fatty acids in solid fat. This ensures an increase in the physiological and nutritional value of margarine products based on food solid fat.

Industrial-Scale Hydrogen Production Plant Modelling

Considering the process characteristics, hydrogen production via steam methane reforming is a vital part of oil refinery not just in terms of materials, but of energy integration as well. This work extends the mathematical model describing hydrogen production by ATE (Approach to Equilibrium) parameters implemented within the chemical reactors’ models. Equations for ATE parameter prediction, i.e. mass flow of process feed (natural gas) and reaction temperature, were formulated. Verification of the whole model as well as of its parameters was performed using process data from a real hydrogen plant. The extended mathematical model is suitable for the evaluation of the influence of increased hydrogen content in natural gas on plant´s material and energy efficiency, as renewable hydrogen injection and co-transport in natural gas pipelines in future is proposed by the European Union as a means of decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.

Hydrogen (H2) is on the rise – is Germany on the right track?

Purpose: The anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions cause the global temperature rise. The solution must therefore be combinations that together do not produce any greenhouse gases. Green produced hydrogen (H2) is a profound example of this, but is still at the very beginning of a comprehensive development and solution for numerous applications. As a large technology nation, Germany has a special focus and responsibility.&#x0D; Design / methodology / approach: Due to the fact that practically all information on this is only press releases from the media, only public media can be used, especially for the latest findings. This also includes statements from the federal and state governments and other public authorities done in personnel interviews to the author by phone.&#x0D; Results: Since H2 is a completely new field in the course of decarbonization and will result in investments of billions in every country, the answer to the research question posed for Germany at least can be: Yes, Germany is definitely on the right track with H2.&#x0D; Research / practical implications: Future research should deal with the implementation of the H2 application and the challenge of supply and demand.&#x0D; Originality / Value: This paper is based on brand new publications and 2 interviews with key decision makers about investments in new hydrogen plants.