Analysis of hybrid hydrogen systems: Final report

NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. This project examined biomass pathways for hydrogen production and how they can be hybridized to support renewable electricity generation. The project considered many potential hybrid systems before narrowing the focus to two. The systems were studied in detail for process feasibility and economic performance. The best-performing system was estimated to produce hydrogen at a cost ($1.67/kg) within range of the Department of Energy target for central biomass-derived hydrogen production, while also providing value-added energy services to the electric grid. Of the domestic resources available for hydrogen production, biomass shows significant promise. Recent assessments have shown that more than 400 million tons of biomass currently is available annually in the United States (Milbrandt 2005). This could be converted to roughly 30 million tons of hydrogen by thermochemical processing. Thermochemical plants provide many opportunities for system integration. The project team generated a matrix considering the combination of biomass-processing technologies and how they could be hybridized with other technologies. The matrix contained more than 100 potential binary combinations. These were ranked based on criteria such as resource availability, technology maturity, and hybridization benefits. Some of the top concepts are listed below. Combined wind power and biomass gasification for co-production of fuel and power Combined electrolysis and biomass gasification for co-production of fuel and power Combined coal and biomass/bio-oil gasification systems for co-production of fuel and power with carbon sequestration for both processes Co-location and thermal integration using steam from a nuclear reactor to feed bio-oil reforming to produce fuel These results were further ranked using a decision matrix. Direct wind and wind-electrolyzer combinations with biomass gasification rose to the top of …