CMI First Year H2 Production 13 (1-22-02)

1
The Potential of Hydrogen in a Climate-Constrained
Future Tom Kreutz Princeton Environmental
Institute Princeton University Presented at
the 2005 AAAS Annual Meeting, Symposium Sustaina
bility - Energy for a Future without Carbon
Emissions 19 February 2005, Washington, DC
2
The Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI)at
Princeton University, 2001-2010 

• CMI Project Areas
• - Carbon capture (Kreutz, Larson, Socolow,
  Williams)
• - Carbon storage (Celia, Scherer)
• - Carbon science (Pacala, Sarmiento, GFDL)
• - Carbon policy (Bradford, Oppenheimer)
• Integration (Socolow, Pacala)
• Funding 15.1 from BP, 5 M from Ford

3
Outline of Talk

• Brief sketch of the hydrogen landscape
• Overview of our work on production of low-carbon
  H2 and electricity from fossil fuels (primarily
  coal)
• A potential role for centralized H2 production in
  an emerging H2 economy

4
Drivers for the H2 Economy

• H2 is abundant and can be utilized relatively and
  cleanly (via combustion, electrochemistry)
• Energy security
• Air pollution
• Climate change
• Common clean chemical energy carrier from
• - renewables,
• - fossil fuels,
• - nuclear power,
• - fusion, etc.

5
Difficulties with the H2 Economy

• Efficiency losses during production
• Safety
• Cost
• - distribution
• - storage (at both large and small scales)
• - utilization
• - safety
• Storage

6
H2 Issues

• Zealotry
• Safety
• Straw men
• Poorly designed systems
• Pie in the sky
• Different goals, time scales
• Response to climate change
• Oil prices, politics of nuclear power
• Other ways to solve the problems
• H2 is a package deal

7

• The Case for Hydrogen - Climate Change
• Most of the century's fossil fuel carbon must be
  captured.
• About half of fossil carbon, today, is
  distributed to small users buildings,
  vehicles, small factories.
• The costs of retrieval, once dispersed, will be
  prohibitive.
• An all-electric economy is unlikely.
• An electricity-plus-hydrogen economy is perhaps a
  more likely alternative.
• Hydrogen from fossil fuels is likely to be
  cheaper than hydrogen from renewable or nuclear
  energy for a long time.

8
Outline of Talk

• Brief sketch of the hydrogen landscape
• Overview of our work on production of carbon-free
  H2 and electricity from fossil fuels (primarily
  coal)
• A potential role for centralized H2 production in
  an emerging H2 economy

9
Motivation for Studying Coal (vs. Gas)

• Plentiful. Resource 500 years (vs. gas/oil
  100 years).
• Inexpensive (low volatility). 1-1.5 /GJ HHV
  (vs. gas at 2.5 /GJ).
• Ubiquitous. Wide geographic distribution (vs.
  middle east).
• Carbon intensive.
• Potentially clean. Gasification, esp. with CCS,
  produces few gaseous emissions and a chemically
  stable, vitreous ash.
• Ripe for innovation.
• Globally significant. For example China
  extensive coal resources little oil and gas.
  Potential for huge emissions of both criteria
  pollutants and greenhouse gases.

10
Annual U.S. Carbon Emissions (2002)

• Lets focus for a moment on the power market...

11

• Process Modeling
• Heat and mass balances (around each system
  component) calculated using
• Aspen Plus (commercial software), and
• GS (Gas-Steam, Politecnico di Milano)
• Membrane reactor performance calculated via
  custom Fortran and Matlab codes
• Component capital cost estimates taken from the
  literature, esp. EPRI reports on IGCC
• Benchmarking/calibration

• Economics of IGCC with carbon capture studied by
  numerous groups
• Used as a point of reference for performance and
  economics of our system
• Many capital-intensive components are common
  between IGCC electricity and H2 production
  systems (both conventional and membrane-based)

12

• Commercially Ready Coal IGCC with CO2 Capture

• CO2 venting 390 MWe _at_ 1200 /kWe, ?LHV 43.0,
  4.6 /kWh
• CCS 362 MWe _at_ 1500 /kWe, ?LHV
  34.9, 6.2 /kWh

13
An example of such a plant...
14

• Our Reality...

15
Economics of Coal IGCC with CO2 Capture and
Storage (CCS)
Coal IGCCCCS becomes competitive with new coal
plants at 100 /tC
16

• Coal IGCCCCS

• Coal IGCC CCS is a hydrogen plant!

17

• H2 Production Add H2 Purification/Separation

• Replace syngas expander with PSA and purge
  gas compressor.
• Reduce the size of the gas turbine.

18

• H2 Production from Coal with CCS

1070 MWth H2 LHV (771 tonne/day) 39 MWe
electricity, efficiency ?LHV60.9, H2
cost1.04 /kg
19
Disaggregated Cost of H2 from Coal with CCS

• Typical cost is 1 /kg (note 1 kg H2 1
  gallon gasoline)

20
Economics of H2 from Coal with Carbon Storage

• The carbon tax needed to induce CCS in H2
  production from coal is significantly lower than
  that for electric power

21

• H2 Production from Coal with CCS

• Incremental cost for CO2 capture is less for
  hydrogen than electricity because much of the
  equipment is already needed for a H2 plant.

22
Where Might that H2 be Used?

• Displacing traditional H2 from NG (1 of global
  primary energy).
• At 200 /tonne C, H2 for industrial boilers,
  furnaces, and kilns becomes competitive with gas
  at 4 /GJ.

23

• System Parameter Variations
• System Performance
• gasifier/system pressure
• syngas cooling via quench vs. syngas coolers
• - hydrogen recovery factor (HRF)
• hydrogen purity
• sulfur capture vs. sulfur CO2 co-sequestration
• - membrane reactor configuration
• - membrane reactor operating temperature
• - hydrogen backpressure
• - raffinate turbine technology (blade cooling vs.
  uncooled)
• System Economics (Sensitivity Analysis)
• membrane reactor cost (and type)
• co-product electricity value, capacity factor,
  capital charge rate, fuel cost, CO2 storage cost,
  etc.

24
Membrane System Results Summary

• No matter how hard we work, the cost of
  coal-based H2 with CCS is 1 /kg!

25
Hydrogen in the Transportation Sector
26
Production Cost of H2 (Scale1 GWth HHV)
27
Add CO2 Transport and Geologic Storage...
28
Add H2 Storage and Distribution Pipelines...
29
Add H2 Refueling Stations...
30
Add the Incremental Vehicle Cost...

• Switching to H2 as a transportation fuel is
  expensive!
• The cost of H2 production is only a small piece
  of the whole.

31
Outline of Talk

• Brief sketch of the hydrogen landscape
• Overview of our work on production of low-carbon
  H2 and electricity from fossil fuels
• Is there a role for centralized H2 production in
  an emerging H2 economy?

32
(No Transcript)
33
H2 DEMAND DENSITY (kg/d/km2)
YEAR 1 25 OF NEW Light Duty Vehicles
H2 FCVs Blue shows good locations for refueling
station
34
H2 DEMAND DENSITY (kg/d/km2) YEAR 5 25 OF
NEW LDVs H2 fueled
35
H2 DEMAND DENSITY (kg/d/km2) YEAR 10 25 OF
NEW LDVs H2 fueled
36
H2 DEMAND DENSITY (kg/d/km2) YEAR 15 25 OF
NEW LDVs H2 fueled
37
What is this Curve?
Consumption
Time
38
The Elephant-in-the-Snake Problem
orHow does Ohio swallow a 1 GWth H2 plant?
Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupéry
39
2004 NRC Report The Hydrogen Economy
Opportunities, Costs, Barriers, and RD Needs

• Among the major messages of the report
• The (50 year) transition to a hydrogen fuel
  system will be best accomplished through
  distributed production of hydrogen, because
  distributed generation avoids many of the
  substantial infrastructure barriers faced by
  centralized generation. (pp. 117)
• It seems likely that, in the next 10 to 30
  years, hydrogen produced in a distributed rather
  than centralized facilities will dominate. (pp.
  120)

40
2004 NRC Report Consensus Slides

• Distributed production of hydrogen by SMR is
  likely transition strategy
• Potential role for natural gas conversion to
  supply hydrogen both in transition (small,
  distributed) and long term (large, centralized
  generators)
• Focus DOE program on development of mass-produced
  hydrogen appliances for fueling stations (SMR and
  POX/ATR)
• Downsize effort on centralized generation

41
Likelihood of a H2 Economy

• Primary drivers for a U.S. H2 economy
• 1) secure energy supply,
• 2) improved air quality,
• 3) reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
• H2 via distributed SMR provides only one of these
  (2).
• Will a H2 economy emerge in this scenario?
• H2 from coal IGCCCCS satisfies all three
  drivers.
• Yes, large scale, dedicated H2 plants from coal
  with CCS are economically problematic in the
  transition.
• However, slipstream H2 from coal IGCCCCS is
  not.

42

• Coal IGCCCCS

• Coal IGCC CCS is a hydrogen plant!

43
Slipstream Hydrogen System Design

• H2 production piggybacks off of coal IGCCCCS
• - H2 is economical (marginal production cost 0.8
  /kg) and has a stable price relative to natural
  gas-based H2.
• H2 flow rate is flexible (only PSA, compression
  and storage change to match increasing demand).
• Assume medium-sized refueling stations (1
  tonne/day H2) for commercial/government fleet
  vehicles
• Begin with a handful of plants, and increase to
  many over time.

44
An Alternative Scenario

• The U.S. gets serious about climate change in the
  next quarter century (before fusion, large-scale
  renewables).
• The cost of CO2 emissions becomes high enough to
  force significant reductions in the power sector
  (100 /tC).
• CCS is shown to be a safe and economical
  strategy.
• All new coal power plants are IGCCCCS, built
  near demand centers (cities).
• Arbitrary quantities of low-carbon H2 is
  available to those demand centers for industry
  and transportation.
• The H2 economy builds from this base.

45
Scenarios Investigated

• Temporal early fleet phase through commuter
  phase
• Geographic two limiting cases (Ohio case study)
• - city gate plant ? Cincinnati, 24 driving
  miles
• distant plant ? Columbus, 106 driving miles (91
  rural)

46
Preliminary Results

• Slipstream H2 from coal IGCCCCS is competitive
  with distributed SMR.

47
Preliminary Results
- At low demand (lt 20-50 tonne/day), trucked H2
from CGCCCCS is lowest cost option pipelines
thereafter.
48
NRC Report Results

• Our work agrees with theirs.

49
Preliminary Results

• Dont upsize the gasification train! Displace
  or replace power instead.

50
How does this play out in Ohio?
Electricity and H2 Plants with CCS EPQ HPQ
Coal input (MWth, HHV) 1036 1962
Power output (MWe) 362 39
H2 output (tonne/day) - 771
Efficiency (, HHV) 34.9 68.4
Product cost (/kWh, /kg H2) 6.2 1.0
Year 2000-2003 data Cincinnati Columbus Ohio
Population (million people) 2.0 1.6 11.4
Light Duty Vehicles (million) 1.6 1.3 8.9
LDV gasoline (106 gal/day, at 20.1 mpg) 2.5 2.0 14
LDV H2 use (tonne/day, at 60 mpge) 828 664 4675
LDV H2 requirement (MWth HHV H2) 1358 1090 7673
HPQ plants needed for all H2 1 1 6
Electric capacity (GWe) 6.6 5.3 32.3
EPQ / (total electric demand) 6 7 1
EPQ plants needed for all power 18 15 89
(Coal for H2) / (coal for electricity) 10 10 11
H2 from EPQX (tonne/day H2) 48 48 55
Fraction of total H2 from "extra" coal (i.e. ?HHV 33.9 ?37.7)  (i.e. ?HHV 33.9 ?37.7)  48
51
Slipstream H2 Upshot

• Slipstream H2 with compressed H2 truck delivery
  is an economical (2 /kg, delivered), flexible
  source of low-carbon H2 from indigenous coal.
• This H2 can be used by fleets of (and commuters
  with) H2 ICVs (and later, FCEVs).
• It requires nearby IGCCCCS, and associated high
  carbon prices.
• Since the former is an oft-cited outcome of a
  serious climate management regime, a H2 economy
  for transportation seems to me much more likely
  than before because it aggressively addresses
  climate change.