III . 7 Innovative Hydrogen Liquefaction Cycle

Abstract

Objectives Reduce the cost and improve the energy efficiency of hydrogen liquefaction. Develop and model a large capacity (50,000 kg/day • or greater) hydrogen liquefaction cycle that: Attain efficiencies which are a 33% – improvement over present state-of-the-art systems. Significantly reduce the capital expense relative – to similar capacity systems. Identify • the H 2 liquefaction cycle that are not commercially available. Produce a small-scale (~500 kg/day) hardware • demonstration of a hydrogen liquefaction plant to cost effectively demonstrate the large capacity system design and architecture. The purpose of this project is to produce a pilot-scale liquefaction plant that demonstrates the ability to meet or exceed the efficiency targets set by the DOE. This plant will be used as a model to commercialize this technology for use in the distribution infrastructure of . It distributing hydrogen for industrial gas applications . Extensive modeling of plant performance will be used in the early part of the project to identify the liquefaction cycle architecture that optimizes the twin goals of increased efficiency and reduced cost. The major challenge of the project is to optimize / balance the performance (efficiency) of the plant against the cost of the plant so that the fully amortized cost of liquefying hydrogen meets the aggressive goals set by DOE . This project will design and build a small - scale pilot - plant (several hundred kg / day) that will be both a hardware demonstration and a model for scaling to larger plant sizes (>50 , 000 kg / day) . Though an effort will be made to use commercial or near - commercial components , key components that will need development for either the pilot - or full - scale plant will be identified . Prior to starting pilot - plant fabrication , these components will be demonstrated at the appropriate scale to demonstrate sufficient performance for use in the pilot plant and the potential to achieve the performance used in modeling the full - scale plant .