HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS ASSIGNMENT

WORLD STATUS OF
LARGE SCALE
HYDROGEN
PRODUCTION PLANTS

Rohan Lalwani
10BEM0097

Table Of Contents
Topic

Page No.

Abstract

Hydrogen Production Methods

Hydrogen Production Costs

Companies Involved in Hydrogen Production and their plants

10

Linde Engineering Group

11

Technip & Air Products

16

Hydrogen Generation from Renewable Sources

20

Conclusion

22

References

23

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Abstract
The global hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry stands to be one of the most significant
players in technology innovation, economic expansion and global progression in the 21st
century. The worlds energy solution portfolio is expanding as hydrogen and fuel cells role
increases. Around the world, progress in developing, producing and deploying hydrogen and
fuel cell products and infrastructure is becoming a greater present day reality rather than a
future aspiration. As these technologies move from the R&D stages of development to
commercialization, the vision of a hydrogen revolution is becoming a reality.
The rate of progress in this industry is made complex because different segments of the
industry are advancing at different rates across wide geographical regions. In some areas, the
concept of advancement means tangible forward progress in the public eye, while in other
regions it simply translates to maintaining the foundation on existing infrastructure and
achievements. Overall, however, hydrogen and fuel cells are becoming more practical, more
innovative, and more familiar as an alternative energy technology of today rather than a
futuristic possibility of tomorrow.
While the growth of the global hydrogen and fuel cell market is occurring, measuring the
level of successful implementation is less precise. It has been predicted that the worlds
hydrogen and fuel cell market will grow to $16 billion (USD) by 2017 while others estimate
that it will grow to $26 billion by 2020. Global spending on hydrogen and fuel cell
innovation exceeded $5.6 billion in 2008 and is growing in manufacturing, research &
development demonstrations and other market sectors. Global revenues in hydrogen and fuel
cells are expected to range between $3.2 billion and $9.2 billion in 2015 and between $7.7
billion and $38.4 billion in 2020, respectively. By 2050, one prediction suggests that the
industry could grow to as high as $180 billion. Today, hydrogen and fuel cells are responsible
for up to 40,000 jobs worldwide when taking into account direct and indirect jobs created by
the industry. Of that total, roughly 1/3 of those positions are directly attached to the
implementation of those technologies. Across the globe, waves of innovative hydrogen and
fuel cell technologies are introduced through advanced commercial demonstration programs.
It is the aim of this study to look at current hydrogen production plants and analyze the major
players in the hydrogen market.

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Hydrogen Production Methods

Hydrogen in molecular form can be produced from many different sources, and in many
different ways. In the context of energy systems, hydrogen is best thought of as an energy
carrier, more akin to electricity than the fossil fuels that we extract from the earths crust.
Hydrogen can be produced from any hydrocarbon fuel because by definition these fuels
contain hydrogen. Hydrogen can also be produced from various biological materials and from
water. The water-splitting process is called electrolysis, and it is the oldest known
electrochemical process. Hydrogen is most typically produced today through the steam
reformation of natural gas, but also is produced through electrolysis and as a by-product of
some industrial processes such as chlor-alkali production.

Steam Methane Reforming

Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the process by which natural gas or other methane
stream, such as biogas or landfill gas, is reacted with steam in the presence of a catalyst to
produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide. When starting with natural gas, SMR is approximately
72% efficient in producing hydrogen on a lower heating value basis. The efficiency can be
somewhat lower with sources of methane that include sulphur or other impurities that require
a pre-treatment cleanup step to remove the impurities upstream of the SMR process.
SMR produces a hydrogen rich gas that is typically on the order of 70-75% hydrogen on a
dry mass basis, along with smaller amounts of methane (2-6%), carbon monoxide (7-10%),
and carbon dioxide (6-14%) (Hirschenhofer et al., 2000). Costs of hydrogen from SMR vary
with feedstock cost, scale of production, and other variables and range from about $2-5 per
kilogram at present (delivered and stored at high pressure). Delivered costs as low as about
$1.60 per kilogram are believed to be possible in the future based on large centralized
production and pipeline delivery, and delivered costs for small-scale decentralized production
are projected to be on the order of $2.00-2.50 per kilogram.

Gasification of Coal and Other Hydrocarbons

In the partial oxidation (POX) process, also known more generally as gasification,
hydrogen can be produced from a range of hydrocarbon fuels, including coal, heavy residual
oils, and other low-value refinery products. The hydrocarbon fuel is reacted with oxygen in a
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less than stoichiometric ratio, yielding a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen at 1200
to 1350C. Hydrogen can be produced from coal gasification at delivered costs of about
$2.00-2.50 per kilogram at present at large scale, with delivered costs as low as about $1.50
per kilogram believed to be possible in the future. Hydrogen can also be produced through
pyrolysis-based hydrocarbon gasification processes in the absence of oxygen, with similar
estimated delivered costs at large scale.

Electrolysis of Water
Electrolysis is the process by which water molecules are split directly into hydrogen and
oxygen molecules using electricity and an electrolyzer device. The overall electrolysis
reaction is:

e- + H2O -> O2 + H2
The two most common types of electrolyzers are alkaline (use a potassium hydroxide
electrolyte) and PEM (use a solid polymer membrane electrolyte). The electrolysis reaction
produces pure oxygen as a by-product along with pure hydrogen. The oxygen can then be
used for productive purposes such as enriching the oxygen content of greenhouses for food
production. Hydrogen can be produced via electrolysis of water from any electrical source,
including utility grid power, solar photovoltaic (PV), wind power, hydropower, or nuclear
power. Electrolysis is currently done at a wide range of scales, from a few kW to up to 2,000
kW per electrolyzer. Based on estimated cost ranges by the National Academy of
Sciences/Engineering and the US Department of Energy, grid power electrolysis in the US
would produce hydrogen at delivered costs of $6-7 per kilogram (kg) at present, with future
potential of about $4 per/kg. Wind electrolysis-derived hydrogen would cost about $7-11 per
kg at present, with future potential delivered costs of $3-4 per kg, including the full costs of
production from the wind power system. Solar hydrogen would be more expensive, on the
order of $10-30 per /kg at present, with future delivered costs of $3-4 per kg estimated to be
possible.

Hydrogen from Biomass

Biomass conversion technologies can be divided into thermo-chemical and biochemical
processes. Thermo-chemical processes tend to be less expensive because they can be operated
at higher temperatures and therefore obtain higher reaction rates. They involve either
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gasification or pyrolysis (heating biomass in the absence of oxygen) to produce a hydrogenrich stream of gas known as syngas (a blend of hydrogen and carbon monoxide). They can
utilize a broad range of biomass types.
In contrast, enzyme-based biochemical digester type processes are at present mainly
limited to wet, sugar-based feedstocks but could include cellulosic feedstocks in the future
with continued improvements in process techniques and systems. At medium production
scale and liquid distribution by tanker truck, current delivered costs of hydrogen from
biomass would be in the $5-7 per kilogram range. However at larger production scales and
coupled with pipeline delivery, delivered costs as low as $1.50 to $3.50 per kg are believed
possible. Pyrolysis of biomass, another production option, also offers potentially low costs of
delivered hydrogen, with factory bulk costs potentially as low as about $1 per kilogram
possible with large-scale production and pipeline delivery in the longer term. However, it is
important to note that pyrolysis requires large-scale production to approach those costs, and
that this has not yet been realized on a commercial scale. A more near-term effort is focused
on achieving a plant-gate cost of $2.90 per kg around 2010 with costs competitive with
gasoline by 2015, focusing on the key research area of fluidizable catalysts that avoid high
rates of attrition in the catalyst material (Magrini-Bair et al., 2003).
Also, depending on application, there are potential additional cleanup costs that may need to
be added to these bulk estimates of hydrogen produced from biomass for the provision of
high-purity hydrogen (e.g., for low-temperature fuel cell applications for transportation and
stationary markets), and of course hydrogen transport costs. Each of these additional costs
(purification and transport) can easily reach another $1 per kg or more, depending on the
specific requirements and scale of production.

High Temperature Fuel Cells

High temperature fuel cells based on molten carbonate (MCFC) or solid oxide (SOFC)
technology operate at sufficiently high temperatures to run directly on methane. This is
sometimes called internal reforming. Thus, MCFC and SOFC systems do not need a pure
or relatively pure hydrogen stream as do proton exchange membrane (PEM) and phosphoric
acid (PAFC) systems but can run directly on natural gas or biogas or landfill gas.
Furthermore, such systems can be designed to produce additional purified hydrogen as a by-

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product (e.g. for use as a vehicle fuel), by feeding additional fuel and then purifying the
hydrogen-rich anode tail gas from the fuel cell into purified hydrogen.
Depending on the source of the methane, some cleanup of the methane stream may be
required. However, projects such as the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, California have
successfully demonstrated MCFC systems running on a blend of natural gas and brewery
wastewater treatment digester gas. These and other wastewater treatment and landfill gas
opportunities, such as the one discussed below as a case study, are attractive opportunities for
renewably powered fuel cell systems. Currently in California, the Public Utilities
Commission Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) provides an installation incentive of
$2.50 per Watt for fuel cell systems running on natural gas, and $4.50 per Watt for fuel cell
systems running on a renewable fuel

Other Methods of Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen can also be produced via other means, including from algae, by direct solar
electrochemical processes, and from various nuclear-power-assisted pathways. These
methods are discussed by the likes of Lipman, 2005 etc. and are not the focus of this paper.
However, significant additional progress in some of these areas has been made in recent
years, and some of them appear to be promising opportunities for producing hydrogen from
renewable sources with less energy loss and potentially lower costs and fewer GHG
emissions than is currently typical of industry practice.

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A summary of the above processes can be represented by the figure below

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Hydrogen Production Costs

The average present and future costs per kg of hydrogen produced has already been
mentioned in the previous section, however the table below represents the data in a concise
manner-

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Companies Involved In Hydrogen

Production
To get data on individual plants and their specifications is not very easy because of the
confidential technologies employed. Also most of these plants have been very recently
commissioned therefore there isnt a lot of data available.
Instead, the methodology being undertaken in this study is to look at the major players in this
sector along with a discussion on the technologies employed in some of their plants around
the world. The largest companies involved in hydrogen production are Linde Engineering Group
Technip
Air Products

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Linde Engineering Group

Introduction
Ever since hydrogen was in demand in the chemical and fertilizer industry and more
recently in the petro- chemicals field Linde was involved with the latest improvements in
hydrogen generation. For example, the purification of various industrial raw gas feedstocks
like coke oven and coal gasification gases, sophisticated and tailor made sourgas steps with
chemical and/or physical absorption, and adsorption steps followed by low temperature
purification and rectification processes with cold box units.
The demand of hydrogen grew as the worlds consumption of refinery products increased by
the ever growing industrialization. The demand for better and more abundant automotive
fuels called for better yields from the limited feedstock crude oil. In turn the demand for
hydrogen import grew to balance the hydrogen refining catalytic refinery process steps.
Amongst all hydrogen technology suppliers, Linde is the outstanding contractor for complete
hydrogen plants and the only company who owns all technologies inhouse, covering the
complete range of petrochemical feedstocks from natural gas through LPG, refinery off-gases
and naphtha up to heavy fuel oil, asphalt and coal.
These technologies are basically:

Steam reforming technology for light HC-feed- stock combined with Lindes own

PSA systems for hydrogen purification.

Partial oxidation technology for heavy HC-feedstock followed by a sequence of
various integrated process steps to shift, desulfurize and purify the raw hydrogen. The
pure oxygen for the gasification is produced with a Linde air separation unit.

Linde Hydrogen plant in Germany

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The specific Linde know-how in all these fields are the essential advantage for a successful
integration and complete inhouse optimization of all process sections. The results are highly
efficient and reliably operating hydrogen plants.
Since the early 70s Linde favoured and promoted with innovative improvements the now
well established steam reforming/pressure swing adsorption technology for the production of
pure and ultrapure hydrogen preferably from light hydrocarbon feedstock.
Proven know-how in design and construction of furnaces, steam reformers and heaters has
been completed with the acquisition of Selas of America, which is now Selas Fluid
Processing Co. in the USA and SELAS-LINDE GmbH in Germany. Linde together with
Selas have developed their own proprietary top fired reformer design.
Combining the know-how of the Engineering Division and the Gases Division the
company is in the unique position to build, own and operate complete hydrogen plants for
continuous supply of hydrogen over the fence to large re-fineries and chemical companies.
The extensive feedback of operating data and information on process and equipment
performance in operating plants provides Linde with substantial background for the yet more
efficient design of future plants.
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More than 200 new hydrogen plants have been built all over the world, for clients in the
refining, chemical and fertilizer industry, with capacities ranging from below 1,000 Nm 3/h to
well above 100,000 Nm3/h, and for processing of all types of feedstock. Most of these plants
have been built on a lump-sum turn-key basis.

Technologies Adopted
Linde has a well-proven technology for hydrogen manufacture by catalytic steam reforming
of light hydrocarbons in combination with Lindes highly efficient pressure swing adsorption
process.
The basic process steps
1. Hydrodesulfurization of feed stock
2. Steam reforming
3. Heat recovery from reformed and from combustion flue gas to produce process and export
steam
4. Single stage adiabatic high temperature CO-shift conversion
5. Final hydrogen purification by pressure swing adsorption

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Case Study
Over the past years, the Linde Gas Division built its largest gas manufacturing complex
Leuna, Germany, with an investment of over $250,000,000.00.
Linde is responsible for the supplying the entire chemical and refinery complex in Leuna with
oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. Besides these main products, technical gases of all kinds are
produced.
At this site, Linde also owns and operates a 50-mile pipeline network for gas transportation.
The highest security for gas supply is indispensable for an industrial complex of this size and
is also proven by the operational journals of the plants constructed and operated by Linde.

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Customer:
Linde Gas
Plant location:
Milazzo, Italien
Process:
Olefin Hydrogenation, Steam Reforming, HT Shift, PSA
Capacity:
53,000 Nm/h
47.5 mmscfd
Purity:
99.9 mol-%
Scope of work:
Turnkey implementation
Commissioned:
1997
Extension:
2004

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