H2Tech - Q2 2021 - 40

BLUE HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
casts indicate that cost parity will occur
around 2045.12
This competitiveness between blue
and gray H2 (when considering CO2
costs) is based on SMR technology, but
other technologies are available to further
6
CO2 price
Fuel cost
OPEX
CAPEX
Sensitivity

Production cost, $/kg H2

0
Green H2

Gray H2

Blue H2

FIG. 1. Estimated H2 production costs in 2030.

FIG. 2. Blue H2 technologies and process lineups.
40

Q2 2021 | H2-Tech.com

increase blue H2 affordability for greenfield projects.
Greenfield technology options. This

article considers three technology options
for greenfield blue H2 projects: SMR, autothermal reforming (ATR) and a proprietary gas POX technologyb (FIG. 2).
SMR. SMR, a proven catalytic technology widely applied for gray H2 production, uses steam in a multi-tubular
reactor with external firing for indirect
heating. More than 48% of H2 production
is from natural gas, with SMR being the
most common production technology.13
Post-combustion carbon capturec can be
retrofitted to convert gray H2 production
to blue and is proven to capture nearly all
the CO2 (99%) from low-pressure, postcombustion flue gas.
However, for greenfield blue H2 applications, oxygen (O2 )-based systems,
such as ATR and gas POX technology, are
more cost-effective than SMR (FIG. 3), a
conclusion backed by numerous studies and reports.14 Note: The cost of CO2
makes gray H2 via SMR more expensive

than blue H2 from SGP technology. The
cost advantage of O2-based systems over
SMR increases with scale because the
relative cost of the air separation unit decreases with increasing capacity. Another
advantage is that more than 99.9% of the
CO2 can be captured using the lower-cost,
pre-combustion solvent technology.d
ATR. ATR uses O2 and steam with
direct firing in a refractory-lined reactor
with a catalyst bed. It is more cost-effective than SMR, but it requires a substantial feed gas pre-treatment investment,
and the fired heater produces CO2 emissions (FIG. 2). ATR can be combined with
pre-combustion carbon-capture technology to convert gray H2 production to blue.
Gas POX technology. Gas POX technology is also an O2-based system with
direct firing in a refractory-lined reactor,
but it is a noncatalytic process that does
not consume steam and has no direct CO2
emissions. It, too, can be combined with
pre-combustion carbon-capture technology for blue H2 production. Compared
with SMR, gas POX technology saves
money by maximizing the carbon-capture efficiency and simplifying the process lineup, both of which offset the cost
of O2 production (FIG. 4).
POX vs. ATR for blue H2. As O2based systems offer clear benefits over
SMR, this article considers the advantages of the proprietary gas POX technologyb over ATR for blue H2 production.
A key advantage is that the POX reaction does not require steam as a reactant.
Instead, high-pressure steam is generated
by using waste heat from the reaction,
which can satisfy the steam consumption within the blue H2 process, as well as
some internal power consumers.
With no need for feed gas pre-treatment, gas POX technology has a far simpler process lineup than ATR (FIG. 2).
Also, as a noncatalytic, direct-fired system, it is robust against feed contaminants
such as sulfur and can accommodate a
large range of natural gas qualities, thereby giving refiners greater feed flexibility
to decarbonize refinery fuel gas.
Gas POX technologyb provides substantial savings compared with ATR-a
22% lower levelized cost of H2 (FIG. 5).
These savings come from a 17% lower
CAPEX owing to the potential for a higher operating pressure leading to a smaller
H2 compressor (single-stage compression), CO2 capture and CO2 compressor

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