Small-scale industrial hydrogen liquefaction and refrigeration

Abstract

Abstract As the hydrogen economy expands, the need for point of use production with smaller liquid hydrogen (LH2) production capacities will increase. Examples of this are transportation hubs in remote locations and numerous other applications where the required LH2 production is less than 5 MT/day. In response to this need, a small-scale industrial 1,000 kg/day hydrogen liquefaction plant is being developed and is planned for operation in 2024. The plant will achieve localized, efficient production, on-demand, in remote locations or any location advantageous for use in transportation, where complicated logistics, with associated transportation costs and tanker evaporative losses are eliminated or minimized. The chief advantages of the design are small size/footprint, safety, reliability, low cost, lack of restrictions on site location, and ability to make practical use of renewable energy. The liquefaction plant utilizes a closed-loop helium reverse-Brayton cycle refrigerator where refrigerant temperatures significantly less than the hydrogen liquefaction temperature cause the hydrogen gas stream to be liquefied. The liquefied hydrogen is maintained in the liquid state via a helium side stream taken from the refrigeration loop routed through the LH2 storage tank. This optional system can maintain LH2 temperatures in the storage tank lower than 18 K to eliminate boiloff and facilitate zero loss transload from tanker trucks and eliminate losses in transfer/dispensing. The hydrogen liquefaction plant does not require liquid nitrogen (LN2) pre-cooling and so can be located in remote areas wherever there is 480 V electricity and hydrogen production capacity available. A slightly modified reverse-Brayton cycle is also used in the refrigeration/storage plants. These plants can facilitate zero loss tanker transload and zero boiloff for LH2 storage plants of virtually any capacity. The smallest of these reverse-Brayton cycle refrigerators, currently in detailed design, refrigeration system RS1500 (1000 W heat lift @ 20K) will be capable of eliminating boiloff losses of the largest storage tanks currently in operation with very low electrical energy consumption.