Natural gas turbine, a reformer (or an electrolyzer), a compressor, a heat exchanger, and burner. Though plans have been made to scale it up to 20 or more megawatts, current plans are to make three basic sizes in terms of power output:
The Dynamo of Distributed Generation
The H2PWR System is a versatile power generation plant with scalability and a small carbon footprint. It will be readily deployable. And it will be made in America. Technically, it is a called a tightly coupled hybrid system, with a propriety control system and it is comprised (in part) of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), a modified
Standard Sizes Planned Now 250kW, 500kW & 1 Megawatt
The H2PWR System has several distinguishing attributes:
High fuel efficiency: produces 2 ½ times the energy as a conventional NG turbine on same amount of feedstock
It can operate on several different feedstocks: either carbonbased or “green” (carbon-free)
It produces its own H2 on-site – at only 50 p.s.i.
Even without carbon capture (so-called “Gray Hydrogen”), it exhausts less than 1/100th of the CO2 as a comparable generator burning coal
It has extremely fast ramp-up and turn down rates…. Perfectly suited for either load-following or for providing much needed spinning reserves.
The “tightly coupled” design has demonstrated the capability of adding years to the equipment’s useful life, particularly to the SOFC (the single most expensive component).
Finally, a variation of the design can allow for the utilization of excess heat—effectively allowing it to function like a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant – for “Behind-the-Meter” applications involving heating and/or chillers.
One operational note: the H2PWR system does require a limited amount of water for the reforming process – there are two fundamentally different reforming systems for fossil-based fuels. One under development requires virtually no water, but it is unavailable at this time. Contact us for more details on this requirement and reforming options.
Green Hydrogen
The H2PWR system can operate, of course, on green hydrogen – using only renewables and employing an electrolysis process. Very pure water is needed for this method, as well as requiring other sophisticated processes, which have their own capital costs and space requirements.
There is more discussion regarding a few of the various colors of hydrogen below.
Types of Hydrogen
Why the variety of “colors” of Hydrogen?
Hydrogen as a fuel is indeed clean: It produces no carbon dioxide or other chemical by-products when used. However, the rub is in the means by which the hydrogen is produced and from what feedstock. Currently, the largest producers of hydrogen (and ammonia) use a process called steam reforming and the feedstock is most commonly natural gas. But there are a number of processes – ranging from the most environmentally friendly (“green hydrogen”) to the least clean (so-called “black hydrogen” derived from coal).
There literally is a “rainbow” of colors, each designating aa different process or feedstock. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll highlight just four of the most pertinent types or colors of hydrogen:
Gray
Gray and Blue Hydrogen are “close cousins,’ both produced from carbon-based fuels through a reforming process. Most commonly, this involves steam reforming – a long-standing industrial-scale process. More recently, other forms of reforming have been introduced, including a process called Methane Pyrolysis – distinctively different because it requires virtually no water in the process. (see Turquoise Hydrogen below.)
& Blue Hydrogen
The basic difference between Gray and Blue? The production process is virtually the same, but gray hydrogen refers to the absence of carbon capture, whereas blue hydrogen involves some form of carbon capture. A cost/benefit analysis would be prudent in making the selection to opt for blue hydrogen production, as the H2 production process arguably produces a substantially low volume of CO2 – especially in a small self-contained system.
Green Hydrogen
Green hydrogen is produced through the electrolysis of water (which must be of exceptional purity so as not damage the electrolyzers used in the process).
This process is powered – ideally – by a source of clean, renewable electricity… most typically wind and/or solar. (Hydro is also an option.)
Wide-spread adoption of green hydrogen has been slow, due in large part to its stubbornly high cost. To date, substantial incentives and subsidies have been implemented in some nations for its production on an industrial scale –but so far, in the US, these efforts have been subject to various impediments.
Carbon-based Feedstock for Producing Hydrogen
Other more typical forms of hydrogen are typically produced using some form of carbon-based feedstock, such as natural gas or propane.
Harness Hydrogen Power
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