Introduction
Hydrogen is a key raw material to other energy intensive industries. Globally, nearly 90% of the hydrogen produced industrially is consumed by the ammonia, methanol and oil refining industries. In the future, hydrogen could play an important role in the decarbonisation of space heating (i.e. industrial, commercial, building and residential heating) and transport fuel (i.e. use of fuel cell vehicles).
Currently, the steam methane reformer (SMR) is the leading technology for H2 production from natural gas or ljosirt hydrocarbons. Modern SMR based hydrogen production facilities have achieved efficiencies that could reduce CO2 emissions down to nearly 10% above its theoretical minimum. Further reduction of CO2 emissions from hydrogen production would only be possible by the integration of CCS.
This study provides an up-to-date assessment of the performance and costs of a modern SMR based H2 plant without and with CCS producing 100,000 Nm3/h H2 and operating as a merchant plant (i.e. standalone plant - without any integration to an industrial complex).
This study presents the economics of deploying CCS in an SMR based hydrogen plant capturing CO2 from the (a.) shifted syngas, (b.) PSA’s tail gas or (c.) SMR’s flue gas. Each capture option was evaluated using IEAHG’s standard assessment criteria against a Base Case (i.e. H2 plant without CCS).
Unlike other studies in the series, the capture of CO2 from an SMR plant is a commercial operation. This is one of the main sources of industrial and food grade CO2 in the market globally. However, only 3 sites around the world have demonstrated the integration of CO2 capture with CO2 transport and storage. These include (a.) Port Arthur Project in the USA, (b.) Quest Project in Canada, and (c.) Tomakomai Project in Japan.
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Key Monitoring Discussion Points
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