Just Hydrogen: Energy-efficient and flexible CO2 capture and separation from hydrogen production with ultra-low emissions

In Just Hydrogen, Aker Carbon Capture and SINTEF Energy Research worked together to develop a cryogen solution for delivering clean hydrogen from Norwegian natural gas resources. Clean hydrogen utilization has been identified as one of the key measures required to reach the climate targets through deep decarbonization of sectors such as transportation, residential, power and industry. For Norway as a major natural gas exporter, production of clean hydrogen from natural gas in combination with CO2 capture and storage could be Norway’s most significant contribution to the green transition and a climate-neutral global society. Furthermore, clean hydrogen will strengthen the competitiveness of Norwegian industries in supplying world-leading low-carbon solutions. What does a full-scale process plant for blue hydrogen look like? The blue hydrogen projects that have been announced so far are mostly very large, typically with a capacity of over 200,000 Nm3/h. It is expected that the first wave of projects will be largely defined by oxygen fed Autothermal reformer (ATR) technology which needs large investments in oxygen separation to achieve acceptable economic efficiency. For smaller hydrogen plants with a capacity of 5,000–100,000 Nm3/h, electrically heated reforming can be a good starting point for blue hydrogen production. The Just Hydrogen technology includes an innovative cryogenic process for CO2 separation. It is expected that liquid CO2 can be delivered from hydrogen production to ship freight at all relevant pressure and temperature levels. In addition, it can be designed to deliver pressurized CO2 for pipe transport. The IPN Just Hydrogen project has made it possible to mature the Just Hydrogen concept through testing in the Cold Carbon Capture-pilot and through the development of plans for a demonstration plant. The feasibility study provided, at a high level, an answer to the feasibility of the Just Hydrogen concept, is a solvent-free, flexible and efficient method for capturing CO2 from natural gas-based hydrogen production facilities. The study identified that individually all components of the capture part are recognized and tested. The TRL challenge will lie in getting each individual piece of equipment to work together as designed. The feasibility study envisaged an industrial large-scale hydrogen plant of 230,000 Nm3/h (500 tonnes/day), integrated with a carbon capture plant that would capture 1.5 MtCO2 per year. Since this was a study without a client and therefore no specific geographical location, an illustration was made of how the hydrogen production plant would fit into a Norwegian industrial area located on the west coast of Norway. Advantages of the Just Hydrogen technology: • Built on familiar equipment in a new configuration • CO2 can be exported directly to ships or pipelines, either supercritical or in chilled liquid form • High-pressure residual gas flow for recycling and recovery in the process (positive contribution to the cost) • High purity of the CO2 product – Satisfies the Northern Lights strict specification for storage In order to be able to make a comparison between the JH technology and competing technology, a Reference Case was prepared for a pre-combustion amine-based carbon capture plant. A rough estimate of cost and performance was made. It was assessed that also the reference case would be able to achieve a global carbon capture ratio of 95% by producing very pure hydrogen. The project showed that, under certain conditions, the Just Hydrogen process will be preferable to competing technologies. SINTEF Energi carried out a total of eight different experiments with associated simulations in the Cold Carbon Capture-pilot. The associated simulations were mainly carried out in Aspen HYS, while some calculations of thermophysical properties were calculated with different tools to compare the results obtained with different equations of state. Overall, the experimental results show that the technology performance was in line with expectations. There is relatively good agreement between the experiments and the simulations with some non-critical deviations. The process is proven to be stable and safe, operationally as HSE-wise, and a very high purity of the final CO2 product is achievable. Through the successful testing in the Cold Carbon Capture-pilot at SINTEF Energy’s premises at Gløshaugen, the project considers the technology to be eligible for TRL 5. Patents that were written in IPN Just Hydrogen: • Method for the production of H2 with a high carbon capture ratio and efficiency - SINTEF Energi • Just Hydrogen – ACC + SINTEF Energi

Aker Carbon Capture ser på muligheten for å kommersialisere Just Hydrogen konseptet og inkludere teknologien i selskapets eksisterende CCUS-løsninger. IPN-prosjektet har bidratt til å gi bedre kunnskap om teknologien som vil styrke ACCs markedsposisjon. Dersom kommersialiseringen lykkes, vil JH kunne gi ACC nye inntekter samt et nytt ben å stå på. Muligheter • Just Hydrogen teknologien er en ny mulighet i det fremvoksende hydrogenmarkedet • Tett samarbeid med hydrogenleverandør(er) for å selge en kombinert løsning ved produksjon av blått hydrogen • Støtte nasjonal kompetansebygging og sikre sysselsetting • Verdiskapning fra norske ressurser for et internasjonalt rent energimarked For SINTEF har prosjektresultatene bidratt til en dypere forståelse av CO2-separasjon og flytendegjøring fra flerkomponentgassblandinger samt forbedret både den eksperimentelle og teoretiske kompetansen.

The Just Hydrogen concept for energy-efficient CO2 capture and separation from hydrogen production with ultra-low emissions is a result of several years of research effort at SINTEF Energy Research. Aker Carbon Capture’s objective is to verify the technology, fast track demonstration of the concept in an industrial scale pilot facility and lay the foundation for future full-scale implementation. Just Hydrogen has a technological and strategic fit with Equinor’s planned Northern Lights project for full-scale CO2 transport and storage in the North Sea and the HyDemo project for production, liquefaction and distribution of hydrogen. Clean hydrogen utilization has been identified as one of the key measures required to reach the climate targets through deep decarbonization of several sectors such as transportation, residential, power and industry. For Norway as a major natural gas exporter, production of clean hydrogen from natural gas in combination with CO2 capture and storage, could be the country’s most significant contribution to the green transition and a climate-neutral global society. The primary objective is to develop the Just Hydrogen process for optimal fit with the Northern Lights and to prepare for further increase in Technology Readiness Level from lab-scale to large-scale pilot, fit for industrial site testing. Key research challenges include (1) experimental testing of PSA-derived tail-gas compositions to verify CO2 separation yield and product purity against simulated results based on experimental equilibrium phase measurements; (2) optimization of process schemes and design of an industry-scale unit subject to a weighted set of central KPIs such as global carbon capture ratio, overall efficiency, CO2 dispatch conditions, and design flexibility to switch to other CO2 conditions due to changes in transport infrastructure.