H2ENERGY: A Power-to-X toolkit with industry applications

Applications

Model and simulate complex dynamic fluid systems focused on power-to-x and hydrogen process applications

  • Renewable energy generation and modelling.
  • Hydrogen production, transport and storage (PEM and alkaline electrolyzers).
  • Hydrogen energy production (Alkaline and PEM FC).
  • Simulation of Power-to-x plants.
  • Plant size optimisation.
  • LCOH calculation.
  • Transient simulation of complex fluid networks in one/two phases (liquid-vapour).
  • Simulation of models involving two-fluid mixtures under gas, liquid and two-phase flow regimes for a wide database of working fluids.
  • Simulation of water-hammer, pressure drop, priming processes, etc. in fluid networks.
  • Multi-physics modelling including control, mechanics, fluids, etc.
  • Propellant storage systems and feeding lines.
  • Modelling of combustors, HX, turbo-machinery, pumps, tanks, boilers, hydraulic and pneumatic actuators, etc.
  • Advanced calculations such as optimization studies or parameter estimation to match experimental results.
  • Static and dynamic pipeline simulation.

Description

The H2ENERGY toolkit had been developed with specific components for hydrogen production and operation (electrolyzers, fuel cells, etc.). This toolkit integrates HYDROGEN library (specific for hydrogen process, with electrolyzers, fuel cells, etc.) with FLUIDAPRO (a set of tools for modelling and simulation of complex fluid dynamic networks (gaseous, liquid and two-phase flow regimes for ideal or real fluids), coupled with heat transfer effects and control loops) and with the electrical toolkits (ELECTRICAL, ELECTRIC-DQ and SMART GRID) to provide an integrated solution for hydrogen projects.

The H2ENERGY toolkit offers additional components for hydrogen and Power-to-X projects such as:

  • PEM type electrolyser and fuel cell.
  • Alkaline electrolyzer and fuel cell.
  • Methanol plant as a single total component.
  • Membrane for PEM type operation.
  • Hydrogen car that can be connected to both types of fuel cells.
  • LCOH calculation.

Example 1

E-Methanol plant

Model description

A methanol production plant was modelled from the production of hydrogen using solar energy. For this purpose, a renewable energy production based on photovoltaic panels has been used. This energy is used to produce green hydrogen using an alkaline electrolyzer.The CO2 process line had been also modeled. Finally, methanol had been produced as a final product and its available to study its storage.

An analysis of the continuous production of hydrogen from a 10-year solar energy history in Zaragoza has been carried out and PPA has complemented the electric supply.

In this way, a constant hydrogen production over time was obtained. This allows the analysis of methanol tank filling times and different intermediate control strategies.

 

Results

The plots show a continuous production of H2 and methanol and a consumption of the electrolyzer according to the supplier’s specifications.

 

 

After the transient analysis of the model, we can observe the filling time of the methanol tanks and thus plan the emptying of the tanks.

 

Example 2

Hydrogen car

Model description

This case has been developed to study the operation of a Hydrogen car. For this purpose, the electric car have been added, and the energy source will be the PEM Fuel cell, in the same way as a real hydrogen car works. The hydrogen will be taken from a storage tank and will be transformed into water and energy following the electrolysis reaction.

The scheme of the model is show below:

Water and hydrogen coming out of the fuel cell will be separated using two different separators, and will be storage in a water and a hydrogen tank. In this way, we can see the evolution and the time it would take for the storages to fill up.

The oxygen output have no interest in the case study, so it is just released to the atmosphere.

An electric car have been developed. This car works with external energy and a battery combined. When the car needs more energy than the fuel cell can give, it uses the battery, which is loaded in the initial state. It is also possible to choose the position of the by means of an analogous signal that represents a percentage of the maximun speed of the car, the value chosen is 40% of the maximum

 

Results

It is observed that the energy produced in the fuel cell (267kW) is higher than the energy needed by the car (16.9kW), so the use of the battery is not necessary. If the battery were discharged, this surplus energy would be used to charge it, but we start from an initial state with a charged battery.

More energy is required to move the car, the charge of the battery will be used until it comes empty.

With the value that it given to the pedals variable, a velocity of 108 km/h it is reached, which represents a normal velocity situation.