Chemical Engineering August 2023 - 20

Skovgaard Energy
taking an empty one back to the factory, "
he adds.
In addition to two under-construcFIGURE
5. Construction has begun on the world's
first dynamic power-to-ammonia plant, which will
use electrolysis-based hydrogen as a feedstock
Green hydrogen in practice
Although there is much discussion
about the ballooning production capacities
of green hydrogen required
for numerous upcoming decarbonization
projects, there isn't as much
discussion about the current state
of operating green-hydrogen plants.
French company Lhyfe (Paris; www.
lhyfe.com), a " pure player " in the production
and distribution of green and
renewable hydrogen, started up a
production facility in Bouin, Vendee,
France in September 2021 that produces
up to 1,000 kg/d of green hydrogen
(Figure 3). " A unique aspect
of this plant is that it sources seawater,
so we don't take any water from
the utility grid. We treat the seawater
so that it is comparable to demineralized
water for electrolyzer use, " explains
François Hoche, industry market
manager at Lhyfe. Furthermore,
he adds, the plant sources its renewable
power directly from a nearby
wind park, so it is essentially " behind
the meter, " meaning that it does not
draw from the local power grid. The
major hydrogen users for the site are
in the mobility and logistics sectors.
" One of the main customers of the
facility is a logistics and distribution
center operated by grocery chain
Lidl. At this center, they have converted
more than 120 forklifts to run
on green hydrogen, " says Hoche. At
Lhyfe's site, produced hydrogen is
compressed and loaded onto tube
trailers for transport to users. " In
order to transport as much hydrogen
as possible, we compress the hydrogen
and we have different sizes of
containers that are used to distribute
the hydrogen to the final customers.
In what we call the 'small industry'
market, users may consume only
one or two containers per week, so
we switch containers with each delivery,
bringing a full one to site and
20
tion plants in France, Lhyfe has also
announced several other projects
throughout Europe, including SeaLhyfe,
located in the Atlantic Ocean
off the coast of northwestern France,
which is said to be the world's first
offshore
hydrogen-production
pilot
project (Figure 4). " When we talk
about renewable hydrogen, it's important
to realize that the dependence
on renewable energy sources
makes it crucial to look for the largest
possible intensity of renewable
power, but many sources have the inconvenience
of being intermittent. So
we're looking at offshore production
to maximize energy intensity, " says
Hoche. In June, SeaLhyfe began
production of offshore green hydrogen
using a 1-MW electrolyzer capable
of producing up to 400 kg/d of
hydrogen. From September 2022 to
May 2023, the SeaLhyfe module was
moored in the Port of Saint-Nazaire.
During this time, Lhyfe conducted a
series of startup and validation tests
to optimize system performance. The
company also developed a software
platform for remote management of
the unit. Now, the SeaLhyfe unit has
been towed 20 km offshore and connected
to the site's subsea hub using
an umbilical cable designed specifically
for use in hydrogen applications.
Following the success of SeaLhyfe,
the company, as part of the HOPE
consortium, has received a €20-million
grant to commercialize a much
larger 10-MW offshore green-hydrogen
unit, capable of around 4 m.t./d
of production.
Ammonia production is one of
the most promising avenues for industrial
decarbonization using green
hydrogen. Not only is ammonia a
much-needed commodity product
for manufacture of fertilizer and other
products, it also has great promise as
a heavy-duty transport fuel and energy
carrier for hydrogen itself. A recently
announced project in Denmark
is coupling electrolysis of water into
green hydrogen with the production
of ammonia, all powered by renewable
energy, in what is being called
the
world's
first
dynamic,
green
" power-to-ammonia " plant. " We've
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
been converting hydrogen into ammonia
for decades, so we know how
to handle it, and we know how to
store it in a safe manner, " says Jeppe
Bentzen, business development director
at ABB Energy Industries in
Denmark (ABB; Zurich, Switzerland;
www.abb.com) on the benefits of
green ammonia. ABB is collaborating
with project partners Skovgaard
Energy A/S (Lemvig, Denmark, www.
skovgaard.dk), Topsoe A/S (Lyngby,
Denmark; www.topsoe.com)
and
Vestas (Aarhus, Denmark; www.
vestas.com) on the new plant, called
Renewable Dynamic Distributed Ammonia
Plant (REDDAP), which aims
to begin production in 2024 with an
anticipated production capacity of
5,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of
green ammonia for fertilizer and marine
fuels. Construction on the site is
currently underway (Figure 5).
A notable benefit of dynamic
power-to-X plants is that they make
their product when conditions are
positive - the sun is shining and the
wind is blowing - and they can ramp
down production when the energy
source is not present, but this type of
operation poses some specific challenges.
" The groundbreaking part of
this project is that it's the first powerto-ammonia
project that is running in
fully dynamic mode, meaning that it
is directly coupled to its own renewable
energy power generation. Since
the plant is not pulling energy out
from the grid, it will be pushing the
limits of the electrolyzers' operating
envelope. This also means that on a
technology perspective, we will need
to install and deliver a very solid electrical
backbone for the plant. This is
also a challenge where we want to
push the limits of the technology, "
adds Bentzen. Currently, ABB is
working on simulations to evaluate
electrolyzer and electrical-system
resilience, detailing design and integrated
control systems, under such
dynamic conditions. The planned
site for the project has access to 12
MW of existing wind-turbine power,
and there are also 50 MW of newly
constructed solar panels nearby. According
to Skovgaard Energy, this is
the first of several planned power-toammonia
plants.
■
Mary Page Bailey
AUGUST 2023
http://www.abb.com http://www.skovgaard.dk http://www.skovgaard.dk http://www.topsoe.com http://www.vestas.com http://www.vestas.com http://www.lhyfe.com http://www.lhyfe.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering August 2023

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