Catalyst development for improved economic viability of LOHC technology

The scope of this topic is to reduce the system costs of the LOHC technology by developing improved catalysts or novel catalytic system architecture. This would allow, among others, the reduction of energy intensity during loading/unloading processes, a higher cycle efficiency and increased lifetime. To reach this scope, three approaches are expected:

• Decrease the PGM (Platinum Group Metal) loading, as upscaling of the technology will reduce the specific costs of the unit, but the use of PGM will keep this technology costly. To overcome this, an increase of the catalytic activity in both hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reaction or the partial/total substitution of PGM catalyst/critical raw materials is expected to reduce the specific PGM demand;
• Increase the catalytic selectivity and specificity as a reduction of the pre- and post-conditioning of hydrogen before and after the hydrogenation / dehydrogenation process can tremendously reduce the costs of the technology. The selectivity of the catalyst for hydrogenation reaction should be adjusted to the properties of the inlet hydrogen stream from electrolyser (or Steam Methane Reformer). In case of dehydrogenation, the used catalyst should be optimized to avoid unwished side-reactions and release hydrogen with a high purity e.g. for fuel cell applications;
• Increase space-time-yield by coating surfaces with catalyst as merging the catalyst, the catalyst support and the heat exchanger into one single unit could achieve an increase of efficiency and cost reduction. Concepts involving new component architecture, new materials, and new manufacturing processes should be developed and demonstrated.

It is expected that at least 2 solutions and 3 approaches are proposed by the project.

The topic is open to all kind of LOHC concepts as long as the carrier has the general capability to be used for hydrogen logistics in terms of efficiency, regulatory and safety issues. Substances with low cyclability, high toxicity or low availability should not be considered.

The project should address at least the following key issues:

• Evaluation of the catalyst performance compared to state-of-the-art experimentally in a demo unit >10 kW;
• Evaluation of the catalyst lifetime and maintenance experimentally in continuous operation of at least 200 h;
• Reduction of the energy required in the dehydrogenation to < 6 kWh/kg H2;
• Assessment of the catalyst synthesis route regarding the environmental footprint (e.g. with respect to abandoning/elimination of critical raw materials);
• Identify the pathways for upscaling of catalyst production and determination of the marginal costs for annual catalyst demand >1,000 t;
• Technology comparison with other hydrogen logistic concepts e.g. GH2, LH2, shipping or pipeline, based on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculations and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), avoiding duplications with already funded initiatives or projects i.e. HySTOC [50].

The project consortium should include at least one industrial partner willing to exploit the results.

TRL at start of the project: 2 and TRL at the end of the project: 4.

Any safety-related event that may occur during execution of the project shall be reported to the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) dedicated mailbox JRC-PTT-H2SAFETY@ec.europa.eu , which manages the European hydrogen safety reference database, HIAD and the Hydrogen Event and Lessons LEarNed database, HELLEN.

The project will be required to contribute towards the activities of the Hydrogen Innovation Challenge (as detailed under point G. International cooperation). Cooperation with non-EU/Associated country member of this challenge is encouraged (see chapter 3.3 for the list of eligible countries).

The FCH 2 JU considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of EUR 2.5 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected duration: 3 years

[50] http://www.hystoc.eu/

Hydrogen is a flexible energy carrier that can be produced from any energy source, and which can be converted into various energy forms. The main challenges with hydrogen use are related to its storage during large periods of time and capacity, and transportation on long distance. Moreover, due to its low volumetric energy density, hydrogen requires costly steps of compression or liquefaction; while boil-off limits the use of liquid H2 during large scale of time.

Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs) based on organic compounds hold the promises for long time and high capacity energy storage, cost-effective long-distance energy transport and, in a long-term perspective, they might be directly used as a fuel for mobile applications. Due to the chemical binding of hydrogen to the liquid carrier, hydrogen can be stored and transported at ambient temperature and pressure in a safe way. Some carrier substances are also fully compatible with existing liquid fuel infrastructure.

Capacities of renewables and electricity costs are extremely heterogeneous in EU. It will not be possible to produce low carbon hydrogen nationally or locally at adequate costs. Just as fossil fuels are being imported and exported across borders today, sites with high renewable potential and low costs of decarbonized electricity should be used for hydrogen production in the long-term perspective. In doing so, storage and transportation of hydrogen at scale is the missing link on the targeted road to a low carbon hydrogen economy. This is where the LOHC approach can play a key role.

Technical feasibility of LOHC has been demonstrated in several projects up to a capacity of 240 kg H2/day. Nevertheless, this technology shows its advantages solely when applied at larger scales. From today’s perspective, the main bottleneck is however its economic viability. In order to overcome this, three routes should be pursued: 1) utilize the economics of scale, 2) optimize the interface to existing large-scale hydrogen generation technologies (e.g. electrolysers, SMR with CCS) and hydrogen consumers (e.g. hydrogen refuelling stations) and 3) redesign of the process technology by merging of sub-components. Central point for all three procedures is the technical and energetic performance of the catalysts.

The improved catalysts and/or novel catalytic structures is expected to open the way for wider impact of LOHC technology. This should be the significant step to provide cost-efficient systems based on LOHC technology that finally will enable upscaling and process intensification. Catalytic improvements (material, integration, comprehension) will also contribute to the development of other technologies (Fuel Cell, Electrolysers) applications.

The expected impact with validated results in a complete LOHC system should include:

• Increased technology competitiveness by novel processes/materials/concept with improved techno-economic efficiency while at least maintaining energy demand for dehydrogenation compared to state of the art practice (≤10 kWh/kg H2 thermal energy);
• Increased kinetics in dehydrogenation (> 3 g H2/g catalyst/min) by maintaining high grade of conversion (>90%) at high selectivity (>99.8%);
• Improved stability/robustness of the system with loss of performances < 0.01%/cycle;
• Gravimetric capacity at tank system level >5.0 % wt;
• Volumetric energy density >1.6 MWh/m3 (based on LHV H2);
• Catalyst compatibility in hydrogenation with H2 from mixed gas streams (impurities up to 20%);
• Better catalyst comprehension that will have an interest in fuel cell or electrolysers.

The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 3.3 of the FCH2 JU 2020 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018– 2020 which apply mutatis mutandis.