Hydrogen and Power Cogeneration Based on Chemical Looping Combustion: Is It Capable of Reducing Carbon Emissions and the Cost of Production?

Abstract

This study presented a possible alternative to producing hydrogen and power on the basis of different chemical looping combustion technologies. To manifest the feasibility of such a design, the thermodynamics, environment, and economy were assessed in this study. Compared with traditional standalone systems (production of hydrogen and power, respectively), the designed systems were capable of saving beyond 16% of energy input, while reducing more than 98% CO2 emissions. As promoted by thermodynamic benefits, the chemical looping hydrogen generation (CLHG) system could achieve 3.04% efficiency gain as compared with the system that employs chemical looping combustion to generate heat for the steam methane reforming process (CLC-SMR). Moreover, the CO2 emissions per unit output energy of the presented method were reduced by 0.09 kg. It is noteworthy that the manufacture of oxygen carrier (OC) could not significantly impact life cycle carbon emissions or hydrogen production costs. To reveal the irreversible distributions, component irreversible analysis was conducted. To delve into the feasibility of the design, a sensitivity analysis was also conducted to explore the relationship between the OC performance and the global warming impact. Furthermore, financial assessment was also employed to analyze the systems’ economic benefits.

Recent Advances of Oxygen Carriers for Hydrogen Production via Chemical Looping Water-Splitting

“…The facile reduction of OCs in methane atmosphere enables a closed reaction loop at much milder conditions, which potentially reduces the energy penalty and improves the economics of this process. Compared with conventional standalone systems that generate hydrogen and electricity separately based on methane, it is assessed that chemical looping hydrogen generation with methane as reduction gas was able to save more than 16% of energy input while reducing beyond 98% of CO 2 emissions, rendering a low cost of $32.87/MWh for H 2 production [86].…”

Hydrogen and Electric Power Cogeneration in Novel Redox Chemical Looping Systems: Operational Schemes and Tech-Economic Impact

“…25 He et al simulated the H 2 and power cogeneration process with addition of gas turbines at the gas exits of all the reactors in the standard CLWS process. 26 Cormos et al utilized the combustion of a portion of the hydrogen product from the standard CLWS process in the combined cycle to realize power cogeneration. 27 In contrast to these literature studies, this study first puts forward a cogeneration scheme by integrating the steam turbine with the water feedstock to the CL reactors for power cogeneration.…”

“…Chiesa et al proposed the recovery and utilization of the excess process heat from the exhaust streams with a combination of gas/steam cycles for power cogeneration . He et al simulated the H 2 and power cogeneration process with addition of gas turbines at the gas exits of all the reactors in the standard CLWS process . Cormos et al utilized the combustion of a portion of the hydrogen product from the standard CLWS process in the combined cycle to realize power cogeneration .…”

Targeting climate‐neutral hydrogen production: Integrating brown and blue pathways with green hydrogen infrastructure via a novel superstructure and simulation‐based life cycle optimization

“…Varying the process operating conditions can drastically change the kinetics of the chemical reactions and the process parameters. Consequently, a reforming process operated at 900°C and 25 bar is expected to have a different environmental impact from one operated at 850°C and 10 bar 24,26 . From an operating point of view as well, optimizing process parameters (such as feed inlet ratio, pressure, and temperature) is crucial in minimizing environmental impacts as it leads to decreased energy consumption and material used to produce H 2 27 .…”

“…Consequently, a reforming process operated at 900 C and 25 bar is expected to have a different environmental impact from one operated at 850 C and 10 bar. 24,26 From an operating point of view as well, optimizing process parameters (such as feed inlet ratio, pressure, and temperature) is crucial in minimizing environmental impacts as it leads to decreased energy consumption and material used to produce H 2 . 27 Thus, to identify the optimal process design, the process operating conditions should also be optimized in a superstructure optimization-based process synthesis framework.…”