Economic assessment of hydrogen production from solar driven high-temperature steam electrolysis process (original) (raw)
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Research Thesis-University of South Wales, 2024
This research presents a critical analysis that examines the techno-economic analysis of green hydrogen production to determine the lowest levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) from the perspective of optimal component sizing. Using a production facility at Baglan, Wales as the site of investigation, the study considers a linear scaling approach to determine the optimal size of an ion exchange membrane electrolyser, and the right solar PV capacity that can optimally subsidize the grid electricity to achieve the lowest cost of production possible. Assuming a predetermined annual hydrogen demand of 8.6 tonnes, adopting different energy input configurations for the electrolysis system formed the basis upon which different LCOH were identified guiding the subsequent system sizing efforts. Based on the actual data from the site of investigation and available literature, the system Capital costs (CAPEX), operation expenditures (OPEX), and the system’s annual hydrogen production capacity were determined. From the assessment, the production cost of hydrogen when the system was powered using grid electricity was determined to be £20.52/ kg/H2 in comparison to £20.51/ kg H2 when the energy input configuration as is in the site of production was used. On the other hand, attempts to power the system using 100% solar electricity revealed to be expensive and not economically viable for commercial production of green hydrogen if the investment cost for battery storage systems remains to be high. The optimized grid-PV configuration presented the best levelized cost of hydrogen production at £18.02/ kg H2. Further, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the impact of electrolyser cost and the optimization of grid-PV configuration to the levelized cost of production. This study conveys key insights on green hydrogen production, giving valuable contribution to the endless efforts to achieve low-cost green hydrogen production to expedite decarbonisation and curb the adverse impact of climate change.
2000
A reference design for a commercial-scale hightemperature electrolysis (HTE) plant for hydrogen production was developed to provide a basis for comparing the HTE concept with other hydrogen production concepts. The reference plant design is driven by a high-temperature helium-cooled nuclear reactor coupled to a direct Brayton power cycle. The reference design reactor power is 600 MW t , with a primary system pressure of 7.0 MPa, and reactor inlet and outlet fluid temperatures of 540°C and 900°C, respectively. The electrolysis unit used to produce hydrogen includes 4,009,177 cells with a per-cell active area of 225 cm 2 . The optimized design for the reference hydrogen production plant operates at a system pressure of 5.0 MPa, and utilizes an air-sweep system to remove the excess oxygen that is evolved on the anode (oxygen) side of the electrolyzer. The inlet air for the air-sweep system is compressed to the system operating pressure of 5.0 MPa in a four-stage compressor with intercooling. The alternating-current (AC) to direct-current (DC) conversion efficiency is 96%. The overall system thermal-to-hydrogen production efficiency (based on the lower heating value of the produced hydrogen) is 47.1% at a hydrogen production rate of 2.356 kg/s. An economic analysis of this plant was performed using the standardized H2A Analysis Methodology developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Program, and using realistic financial and cost estimating assumptions. The results of the economic analysis demonstrated that the HTE hydrogen production plant driven by a high-temperature helium-cooled nuclear power plant can deliver hydrogen at a competitive cost.
Cost Analysis of Hydrogen Energy Generation
Journal of KONES. Powertrain and Transport, 2014
Relatively high energy costs and the perspective of running out fossil fuel natural resources stimulates scientists and engineers all over the world to concentrate their efforts on inventing new sources of energy. For decades, hydrogen technology is considered as source of renewable energy. Hydrogen can be used both as the energy carrier as far as substrate in the chemical industry. Plans for hydrogen utilization as the fuel applied to automotive engines also is under investigation. Lot of works describing various technologies for hydrogen processing have come into being, the ways of production and storing this substance have also been worked out. The important part in analysis is costs of applying fuels with respect to their impact on natural environment. As found, these costs are usually difficult to be estimated. In this paper, the main directions in development of hydrogen technologies were analysed concerning total costs for hydrogen processing. As concluded, overall costs of the technology for both hydrogen generation and electric power production are significantly higher with respect to costs for energy generation by coal-fired power plants. The hydrogen production costs characterized themselves with the highest share in overall costs at hydrogen economy, and they depend on technology development. It is expected that overall costs of production, transportation and storage of hydrogen should be remarkably reduced in short-medium term future because of development in: photovoltaic technology-that will contribute to reduce hydrogen production costs by electrolysis process. Additionally, it is expected to reduce costs for hydrogen storage.
Energy Conversion and Management, 2016
In this paper an approach for the determination of the optimal size and management of a plant for hydrogen production from renewable source (photovoltaic panels) is presented. Hydrogen is produced by a pressurized alkaline electrolyser (42 kW) installed at the University Campus of Savona (Italy) in 2014 and fed by electrical energy produced by photovoltaic panels. Experimental tests have been carried out in order to analyze the performance curve of the electrolyser in different operative conditions, investigating the influence of the different parameters on the efficiency. The results have been implemented in a software tool in order to describe the behavior of the systems in off-design conditions. Since the electrical energy produced by photovoltaic panels and used to feed the electrolyser is strongly variable because of the random nature of the solar irradiance, a time-dependent hierarchical thermo-economic analysis is carried out to evaluate both the optimal size and the management approach related to the system, considering a fixed size of 1 MW for the photovoltaic panels. The thermo-economic analysis is performed with the software tool W-ECoMP, developed by the authors' research group: the Italian energy scenario is considered, investigating the impact of electricity cost on the results as well.
Techno-Economic Assessment of Solar Hydrogen Production by Means of Thermo-Chemical Cycles
Energies
This paper presents the system analysis and the techno-economic assessment of selected solar hydrogen production paths based on thermochemical cycles. The analyzed solar technology is Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). Solar energy is used in order to run a two-step thermochemical cycle based on two different red-ox materials, namely nickel-ferrite and cerium dioxide (ceria). Firstly, a flexible mathematical model has been implemented to design and to operate the system. The tool is able to perform annual yield calculations based on hourly meteorological data. Secondly, a sensitivity analysis over key-design and operational techno-economic parameters has been carried out. The main outcomes are presented and critically discussed. The technical comparison of nickel-ferrite and ceria cycles showed that the integration of a large number of reactors can be optimized by considering a suitable time displacement among the activation of the single reactors working in parallel. In addition the c...
Techno-Economic Assessment of Green Hydrogen Production by an Off-Grid Photovoltaic Energy System
Energies
Green hydrogen production is essential to meeting the conference of the parties’ (COP) decarbonization goals; however, this method of producing hydrogen is not as cost-effective as hydrogen production from fossil fuels. This study analyses an off-grid photovoltaic energy system designed to feed a proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzer for hydrogen production to evaluate the optimal electrolyzer size. The system has been analyzed in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, using experimental meteorological data. The 12 kWp photovoltaic array is positioned at the optimal annual tilt angle for the selected site. The temperature effect on photovoltaic modules is taken into consideration. Several electrolyzers with capacities in the range of 2–14 kW were investigated to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the system. The simulation process was conducted using MATLAB and considering the project life span from 2021 to 2035. The results indicate that various potentially cost-competitive al...
The potentialities of massive hydrogen production by High Temperature Electrolysis coupled with three nuclear reactors (the European Pressurized Reactor, the Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor and the Very High Temperature Reactor) were studied in terms of perspectives and costs. First, we present the features of producing water steam by using the three nuclear reactors. Secondly, we present the hydrogen production cost for the HTE process coupled with each type of nuclear reactor. This evaluation has been done by using a genetic algorithm procedure. High potentiality for these HTE couplings was assessed and the electricity price appeared as a key parameter in order to reach low hydrogen production costs.