Validation of a high-performance hydrogen liquefier

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

Hydrogen is liquefied by reducing its temperature to -253°C which increases its volumetric energy density (cryo-compressed form of hydrogen is recommended as well). This makes it possible to transport hydrogen and store it in large quantities enabling the transport of hydrogen by road/ship from centralised/decentralised production unit to customers or even direct use of liquid hydrogen for on-board storage in the frame of heavy-duty mobility.

Hydrogen liquefaction is an energy intensive process and current liquefaction plants rely on technologies and materials that need energy efficiency improvement and cost reduction to lower the overall hydrogen liquefaction cost and activate the LH₂ market at a competitive price in the near future.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Development an innovative hydrogen liquefaction sub-system (sub-modules, cycle or even equipment) that should:
• Demonstrate technical and economic improvements with a potential for scaling-up
• Be capable of reducing the energy consumption and specific cost of hydrogen liquefaction
• Prepare/initiate the massive deployment of liquid hydrogen for the benefit of heavy-duty transport with zero emission.
• Impact on a positive manner other hydrogen Europe Roadmaps related to liquid hydrogen (transportations, usages as aviation, HRS)

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following objectives of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA:

• To increase the efficiency and reduce the costs of hydrogen liquefaction technologies.
• To contribute to the roll-out of next generation liquefaction technology to new bulk hydrogen production plants.

In terms of technical KPIs the project should aim at achieving the following:

• Reducing the H2 liquefaction energy intensity to 8-10kWh/kg H2
• Reducing H2 liquefaction cost to <1.5€/kg

A hydrogen liquefaction process is composed of the following main technological sub-systems: Pre-cooling, Cooling, Coldbox (Heat exchangers, ortho-para conversion), turbines and finally boil-off gas management.

There are currently various challenges associated to the production of low-cost liquid hydrogen:

• Only few developments working on optimising hydrogen cycles at a high TRL have been proposed;
• Current hydrogen energy consumption for liquefaction is around 10 to 12 kWh/kg equivalent to 35% of the hydrogen energy content on LHV vs power basis;
• Market development and cost strategies need to be developed for viable business models to promote LH2 product as an effective way of transporting hydrogen or eventually as a fuel;
• There are no uniform standards and safety regulations for liquid hydrogen.

To overcome the technological barriers of hydrogen liquefaction and to prepare a future massive industrial deployment at a high TRL, the high-performance hydrogen sub-system to be developed in proposals should address the following technical issues:

• An innovative concept different from what is used today. This can be focused at the system level or on one of the sub-system of a liquefaction unit;
• Construction of an industrial prototype at limited scale;
• Evaluate the performance, durability and efficiency of the prototype;
• Demonstrate the capability of the concept to be operated at lower load (in the range 50-100% of the nominal capacity) to be in line with future of renewable/low-carbon hydrogen production -e.g. by water electrolysis coupled with renewable electricity);
• Demonstrate according to the industrial prototype operation the H2 liquefaction energy intensity target between 8 - 10 kWh/kg considering feed hydrogen at 20 bar and 15 °C;
• The validated industrial prototype should prove and support the scalability of the innovative concept to suit flowrates above 100 TPD.
• TRL start of the project: 3 and TRL at the end of the project: 5

The proposed technology to be developed should be benchmarked against the technologies commercially available today based on the Helium Brayton Cycle and the Claude Cycle, both with externally supplied liquid inert nitrogen (LIN) for precooling on a small scale and should demonstrate a lower energy consumption.

Proposals should also address the following economic and regulatory issues:

• The innovative concept should demonstrate a specific liquefaction cost at around 1 to 2 €/kg for a small scale unit;
• The project should define a suitable roadmap to prepare the deployment of low carbon liquid hydrogen solutions;
• The project should address safety aspects of supplies of liquid hydrogen (infrastructure aspects);
• Propose accurate business models for the scale-up of the industrial phase for commercialisation purposes;
• Assess the various advantages of using renewable liquid hydrogen in heavy-duty mobility in terms of emission reduction compared to tradition fuels including the boil-off management for the overall supply chain;
• Asses the various advantages of using renewable liquid hydrogen to valorise renewable energy used for the production of renewable hydrogen in an off-grid configuration;
• Contribute to the development of regulations, codes and standards needed for the LH2 safety issues;
• Define training requirements for operators in regards to LH2 safety operations.

Proposals are expected to address sustainability and circularity aspects.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 3/4 and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.

The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2022 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021–2022 which apply mutatis mutandis.