Natural gas and coal fired turbine power plants are the current industry standard for power generation. With the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, demand for alternative sources for power generation is increasing. Hydrogen gas has been well studied as a possible combustion fuel to be used in place of or blended with natural gas. However, very few studies have performed an in-depth analysis of hydrogen fired turbine power plants in its entirety.
The project objective is to develop a hydrogen fired combined cycle gas turbine power plant utilizing Aspen HYSYS simulation tools, extensive literature review and compare performance with industry accepted approaches. Combustion fuel will be composed of 100% hydrogen gas produced through electrolysis. Electricity driving electrolysis will be sourced from local renewable energies such as wind, hydro and solar.
Although a pure hydrogen-fired power plant presents obvious advantages of a net zero carbon emission, it presents unique challenges that this project will attempt to solve. First, NOx emissions are significantly higher in hydrogen turbines compared to natural gas turbines. Secondly, efficiencies in power generation are reduced when running at partial capacity. Thirdly, hydrogen molecules are smaller and react with some metals presenting material challenges. Lastly, hydrogen generation through electrolysis has a large water consumption rate.
Analysis for the design was broken up into 5 major areas: HYSYS simulation and optimization, materials of construction, safety and environmental impact, economic analysis and comparisons. HYSYS will be the main tool to develop and optimize the combine cycle gas turbine together with associated process equipment such as storage vessels, pumps and filters and downstream processing such as water treatment and flue gas abatement. Key metrics in the development would be overall combine cycle efficiency, NOx emission to be within regulation, and cost estimation.
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