H2Tech - Q2 2021 - 35

BLUE HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

Emissions-free production of blue H2 for
efficient transportation and decarbonization
T. R. REINERTSEN, REINERTSEN New Energy, Trondheim, Norway

Hydrogen production from gas, oil
and coal has a reputation for being dirty
and inefficient. At present, the majority
of the world's H2 is produced and used in
oil refineries and chemical plants. Large
emissions of CO2 and other gases come
from two main sources in these plants-
steam methane reforming (SMR) and
the downstream treatment of the synthesis gas, or syngas (FIG. 1).
Existing plants may be retrofitted to
capture CO2 from reformer flue gas and
by separating CO2 from syngas. However, the overall CO2 capture rate will be
lower than 90%, and the costs of these
methods are generally high.
Over the last few years, the industry
has developed new process solutions for
H2 production. In these new concepts,
SMR is often replaced by autothermal
reforming (ATR), with no direct emissions to the atmosphere. However, CO2
emissions from the overall process are
still at least 5%-10%.
Zero-emissions blue H2. REINERTSEN New Energy has developed a
new process, HyPro-Zero, that gives H2
production with close to zero emissions.
The process is based on existing technology in a new process flow (FIG. 2). It
encompasses ATR and, optionally, a gasheated reformer (GHR) fed with O2.
Following the water-gas shift (WGS),
the syngas is separated by palladium
membrane technology. The palladium
membrane separator is developed by
subsidiary HYDROGEN Mem-Tech
AS. The HyPro-Zero process achieves a
very high CO2 capture rate of 98%-99%.
The purified H2 produced complies with
fuel cell quality requirements. The CO2
is produced by cryogenic separation to
a quality standard that is ready for transportation and storage.

Competitive H2 production. The
HyPro-Zero process facility is projected
to have a reduced CAPEX of 25% compared to existing process solutions. The
production cost for H2 from natural gas
is estimated at €1.5/kg H2-€1.7/kg H2,
based on a natural gas price of €0.12/sm3
and including the capture, transportation and storage of CO2 (TABLE 1).
This cost estimate is significantly less
than other solutions available. At present,
blue H2 can be produced at a cost of 50%

or less than the cost of green H2 via electrolysis with renewable power. The gas
energy efficiency is high, at approximately
80%. Furthermore, blue H2 can be produced at much higher volumes than green
H2-typically 100 times more per plant.
CO2 storage. Available CO2 storage or utilization is a prerequisite for the production
of emissions-free blue H2. CO2 is stored
onshore and offshore in Norway, the U.S.,
Canada and several other countries.

CO2 emissions to air

Natural gas

SMR

CO2 emissions to air

WGS

Hydrogen + CO2

H2 separation

H2 to market

Overall CO2 capture rate: 0%
CO2 emissions: 8-9 kg CO2/kg H2
Process energy efficiency: Approx. 70%
Typical H2 production cost: € 1/kg
FIG. 1. Conventional production of gray H2 (high emissions).

Air separation
unit (ASU)
Puriﬁed H2
(99.9%-100%)

O2
Natural gas

Reforming ATR
(plus GHR)

CO2 capture rate: 98%-99%
* Patented by HYDROGEN Mem-Tech AS

Water-gas
shift (WGS)

H2 + CO2

H2 separation
by palladium
membrane*

Cryogenic
separation
of CO2

CO2 ready
for transport
and storage

FIG. 2. A new process for large-scale, emissions-free production of H2. Patent pending by
REINERTSEN New Energy.
H2Tech | Q2 2021

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H2Tech - Q2 2021

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