Heat Integration Study of CO2 Capture in Blue Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can be used to develop a low-carbon economy: the hydrogen-based industry. For this purpose, a source of hydrogen is needed. Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the current benchmark to produce hydrogen. This technology combines high efficiency and low production cost; however, it is CO₂-intensive. Integrated with carbon capture, SMR could provide a low carbon H₂, (blue Hydrogen). This paper studies the potential of an offshore blue hydrogen production with heat integration allowing recovery of heat in the SMR process to use in the CO₂ capture process. For the studied case, the heat integration shows that almost half of CO₂ can be captured based on chemical absorption with 30wt% MEA. Finally, an economic evaluation discusses the cost of hydrogen production highlighting that CO₂ taxes play a crucial role.