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The demand for hydrogen in conventional and unconventional oil refining industries is considerable. Currently, the predominant source of hydrogen is from fossil fuel production pathways, in particular, steam methane reforming (SMR), which incurs a significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint. Thus, alternative environmentally benign sources of hydrogen will be needed in oil refinery complexes the world over, if their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint is to be reduced materially. In this paper, an integrated data-intensive techno-economic model is developed to provide a credible estimate of hydropower-hydrogen production costs in Western Canada. The minimum hydrogen production cost for the hydropower-hydrogen plant amounts to $2.43/kg H 2 – this corresponds to an electrolyser farm with 90 units of a 3496 kW (760 Nm 3 /h) rated electrolyser. This cost is competitive with SMR/SMR coupled with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) production costs, which vary from $1.87/kg H 2 to $2.60/kg H 2 . This point is buttressed by the fact that if existing hydropower plants are used (hence negating hydropower capital costs), the minimum production cost amounts to $1.18/kg H 2 . Hydrogen from hydro power, under the techno-economic conditions considered here, is competitive compared to SMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen production via steam methane reforming (SMR) dominates the supply to refining complexes worldwide, resulting in significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is a considerable demand for clean hydrogen pathways that are economically competitive with SMR. The development of a 563 MW integrated wind-hydrogen model with energy storage is proposed. The model utilizes real-time wind energy data to ascertain the optimal size of the electrolyser, the number of electrolyser units and the battery (energy storage) capacity that will yield a minimum hydrogen production cost, whilst functioning in a liberalized electricity market with dynamic prices. The optimal plant configuration consists of 81 units of a 3496 kW (760 Nm 3 /hr) electrolyser and 360 MWh (60 units) of battery capacity. For the minimum hydrogen production cost determined ($9.00//kg H 2 ), the wind farm accounts for 63% of this cost. Hence, if existing wind farm assets are used, such that the investment cost of building the wind-hydrogen plant does not include the wind farm costs, the hydrogen production cost is reduced to $3.37/kg H 2 . For a particular electrolyser-battery configuration, it was observed that the minimum hydrogen production cost occurs when their respective capacity factors are approximately equivalent. The benefits of energy storage are limited by the decrease in overall plant efficiency, which results from the use of the battery. For the techno-economic conditions considered in this paper, hydrogen production costs from wind powered electrolysis ($3.37 to $9.00/kg H 2 ) are uncompetitive with SMR/SMR-CCS ($1.87 to $2.60/kg H 2 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hydrogen is produced via steam methane reforming (SMR) for bitumen upgrading which results in significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Wind energy based hydrogen can reduce the GHG footprint of the bitumen upgrading industry. This paper is aimed at developing a detailed data-intensive techno-economic model for assessment of hydrogen production from wind energy via the electrolysis of water. The proposed wind/hydrogen plant is based on an expansion of an existing wind farm with unit wind turbine size of 1.8 MW and with a dual functionality of hydrogen production and electricity generation. An electrolyser size of 240 kW (50 Nm3 H2/h) and 360 kW (90 Nm3 H2/h) proved to be the optimal sizes for constant and variable flow rate electrolysers, respectively. The electrolyser sizes aforementioned yielded a minimum hydrogen production price at base case conditions of $10.15/kg H2 and $7.55/kg H2. The inclusion of a Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) of $0.13/kWh renders the production price of hydrogen equal to SMR i.e. $0.96/kg H2, with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 24%. The minimum hydrogen delivery cost was $4.96/kg H2 at base case conditions. The life cycle CO2 emissions is 6.35 kg CO2/kg H2 including hydrogen delivery to the upgrader via compressed gas trucks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]