Novel Use of Green Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Based Combined Heat and Power Systems to Reduce Primary Energy Intake and Greenhouse Emissions in the Building Sector

Abstract

Achieving European climate neutrality by 2050 requires further efforts not only from the industry and society, but also from policymakers. The use of high-efficiency cogeneration facilities will help to reduce both primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions because of the increase in overall efficiency. Fuel cell-based cogeneration technologies are relevant solutions to these points for small- and microscale units. In this research, an innovative and new fuel cell-based cogeneration plant is studied, and its performance is compared with other cogeneration technologies to evaluate the potential reduction degree in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Four energy consumption profile datasets have been generated from real consumption data of different dwellings located in the Mediterranean coast of Spain to perform numerical simulations in different energy scenarios according to the fuel used in the cogeneration. Results show that the fuel cell-based cogeneration systems reduce primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions in buildings, to a degree that depends on the heat-to-power ratio of the consumer. Primary energy consumption varies from 40% to 90% of the original primary energy consumption, when hydrogen is produced from natural gas reforming process, and from 5% to 40% of the original primary energy consumption if the cogeneration is fueled with hydrogen obtained from renewable energy sources. Similar reduction degrees are achieved in CO2 emissions.

A Review on Recent Progress in the Integrated Green Hydrogen Production Processes

“…The separation of oxygen from sulfur dioxide occurs in Reaction (24), where sulfur dioxide is absorbed in water [152]. The typical reaction of the process is Reaction (25), in which hydrogen and ammonium sulfate are produced by electrocatalytic oxidation of ammonium sulfite at 80-150 • C and low pressures [135,152]. Ammonium sulfate produced from Reaction (25) reacts with potassium sulfate at about 400-450 • C, producing potassium pyrosulfate in (Reaction ( 26)), which decomposes to K 2 SO 4 and SO 3 at about 790 • C and recirculates to the Reactions ( 26) and ( 28), respectively [152,154].…”

“…As shown in Figure 1, greener energy sources (high GF) have high hydrogen content (high HCF) and more negligible environmental effect (low EIF) [16,17]. Hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in feedstock required for oil refining [18,19], steelmaking [20], commercial and residential heating [21], energy storage and stationary/portable applications [22,23], alternative fuels for automotive diesel engines [24], fuel cell-based combined heat and power plants [25], aerospace applications [26], etc. Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen must be produced before being used as a clean energy source.…”

Performance, Efficiency, and Flexibility Analysis of a High-Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell-Based Micro-Combined Heat-and-Power System with Intensification of the Steam Methane Reforming Step by Using a Millistructured Reactor

“…In terms of system efficiency, for the same production of electricity and heat, CHP systems require 30% less primary energy compared to central production plants. Renau et al demonstrated that the fuel-cell-based CHP systems are appropriate to provide the energy demand for heating and hot water in buildings, showing a decrease in both primary energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, even if the hydrogen is obtained from natural gas reforming. The gain in energy efficiency immediately translates into economic and environmental gains through a 30% reduction in the associated GHG emissions .…”

Renewable hydrogen and ammonia for combined heat and power systems in remote locations: Optimal design and scheduling

“…Samsatli and Samsatli 33 studied fully renewable heat networks with electrical and H heating pathways and found that H storage was key enabler for profitability. Shabani et al 34 and Renau et al 35 analyzed renewable H CHP systems in remote locations and found that pursuing CHP operation increased overall energy efficiency by up to 50%. From an economic perspective, Lacko et al 36 found that renewable‐battery‐H CHP systems were less expensive than importing fossil fuels for household applications in coastal Spain while Bournapour et al 37 performed optimal scheduling of wind‐PV‐H CHP networks and found that pursuing CHP increased profit by 15%.…”