Periodic Reporting for period 1 - UnLOHCked (UNlocking the potential of LOHCs through the development of KEy sustainable and efficient systems for Dehydrogenation)
Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-11-30
By advancing breakthrough research on LOHC technologies, UnLOHCked aims at developing a radically disruptive, versatile and scalable LOHC-dehydrogenation plant. Firstly, highly active and stable catalysts with low amounts of critical raw materials will be developed for reducing LOHC dehydrogenation at moderate temperatures. Secondly, an SOFC-system will be developed to be thermally integrated with the dehydrogenation process. The heat demand of the dehydrogenation unit will be fully covered by the fuel cell, while generating electric power. The surplus of hydrogen is exported. These innovative systems fully integrated will allow significant increase of overall efficiency (>50%) to hydrogen and electric power production from LOHC. Three industry partners, HERAEUS, HYGEAR and FRAMATOME, will collaborate with four universities and research centres, the University of Bilbao (Spain), CEA, CNRS-Lyon and North-West University of South Africa to develop scalable prototype system at TRL 5, validating the performance of the technology during at least 500 h. The ambition is to demonstrate the feasibility of a fully CO2-free dehydrogenation process for large-scale production of hydrogen (100-1,000 t H2/d) and electricity with competitive prices (hydrogen carrier delivery cost <2.5€/kg). Thus converting CO2-free LOHC to electricity and hydrogen instead of using NG or LPG as heat source. The UnLOHCked approach is clean & circular: it decreases energy consumption, reduce the use noble metals while generating CO2-free hydrogen and electricity. Techno-economic studies will demonstrate the potential of the technology to both supply hydrogen and renewable electricity to decarbonise the EU economy and to open-up hydrogen transportation by LOHC. Companies will support the consortium preparing for fast market entry after the project.
Between M1-M18, work progressed as planned, completing WP2 and starting WP3 and WP4.
WP2 aimed to develop CRM free or low CRM catalysts for dehydrogenation of perhydro-benzyltoluene. Several low CRM catalysts reached or were very close to our objective conversion (>95%), selectivity (>99.8%) and productivity (0.02 g H2/g catalyst/min) values. Extensive characterization using different methods (BET, TPR, ICP-OES XPS, STEM-EDX- HAADF and others) was performed in order to better understand our catalytic systems.
WP3 has reached its midpoint. Task 3.1 focusing on the modelling and design of the dehydrogenation reactor, is on track. Kinetic modelling using experimental data from UNIBIL is ongoing to enhance the reactor design. Meanwhile, task 3.2 which involves catalyst scale-up and is led by Heraeus, is also advancing. Two catalysts have been chosen, and large-scale synthesis methods are being developed and tested at NWU and/or UNIBIL facilities to select one catalyst. The chosen catalyst will then be produced at the scale outlined in KO2 (50 kg).
WP4.1: Block Flow (BFD) and Process Flow Diagrams (PFD) as well as early versions of Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (PID) have been developed for the LOHC and SOFC system separately. Heat and mass balance calculations have been carried out for the two separate systems in order to determine the correct coupling interfaces - heat provided by the SOFC will be fed into the thermal management circuit of the LOHC dehydrogenation reactor in order to increase overall system efficiency.
Based on this results the operating pressures and temperatures of individual plant segments have been determined in order to start the process of selecting the appropriate equipment and specify requirements for manufacturing of e.g. the reactor vessel.
An early safety assessment of the coupled plant has been performed and general guidelines to design / manufacturing and safe operation of a hydrogen infrastructure has been collected to be used during the project's demonstration phase. The HAZOP methodology has been established for the engineering phase, which will be carried out during the detail design phase of plant engineering.
WP6:Key achievements include creating a public website and an internal communication platform, defining communication templates, and producing an introductory video available on the UnLOHCked YouTube channel. Additionally, a flyer and the first newsletter were designed, and a list of stakeholders was prepared for future communication. A workshop on LOHC was organized at the ICC congress, and a questionnaire on social acceptance of LOHC was made available online, promoted via social media. Dissemination efforts focused on catalyst testing (WP2), with UNIBIL and CNRS presenting eight times at five international events.
WP2 aimed to develop CRM free or low CRM catalysts for dehydrogenation of perhydro-benzyltoluene. Several low CRM catalysts reached or were very close to our objective conversion (>95%), selectivity (>99.8%) and productivity (0.02 g H2/g catalyst/min) values. Extensive characterization using different methods (BET, TPR, ICP-OES XPS, STEM-EDX- HAADF and others) was performed in order to better understand our catalytic systems.
WP3 has reached its midpoint. Task 3.1 focusing on the modelling and design of the dehydrogenation reactor, is on track. Kinetic modelling using experimental data from UNIBIL is ongoing to enhance the reactor design. Meanwhile, task 3.2 which involves catalyst scale-up and is led by Heraeus, is also advancing. Two catalysts have been chosen, and large-scale synthesis methods are being developed and tested at NWU and/or UNIBIL facilities to select one catalyst. The chosen catalyst will then be produced at the scale outlined in KO2 (50 kg).
WP4.1: Block Flow (BFD) and Process Flow Diagrams (PFD) as well as early versions of Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (PID) have been developed for the LOHC and SOFC system separately. Heat and mass balance calculations have been carried out for the two separate systems in order to determine the correct coupling interfaces - heat provided by the SOFC will be fed into the thermal management circuit of the LOHC dehydrogenation reactor in order to increase overall system efficiency.
Based on this results the operating pressures and temperatures of individual plant segments have been determined in order to start the process of selecting the appropriate equipment and specify requirements for manufacturing of e.g. the reactor vessel.
An early safety assessment of the coupled plant has been performed and general guidelines to design / manufacturing and safe operation of a hydrogen infrastructure has been collected to be used during the project's demonstration phase. The HAZOP methodology has been established for the engineering phase, which will be carried out during the detail design phase of plant engineering.
WP6:Key achievements include creating a public website and an internal communication platform, defining communication templates, and producing an introductory video available on the UnLOHCked YouTube channel. Additionally, a flyer and the first newsletter were designed, and a list of stakeholders was prepared for future communication. A workshop on LOHC was organized at the ICC congress, and a questionnaire on social acceptance of LOHC was made available online, promoted via social media. Dissemination efforts focused on catalyst testing (WP2), with UNIBIL and CNRS presenting eight times at five international events.
The experimental results using low-CRM catalysts show a significant performance improvement compared to the current benchmark catalyst (0.4wt.%Pt/Al2O3 from Heraeus). Many catalysts reached conversion values above 90%, selectivities above 99% and/or DoD above 70%, which are higher that the results obtained by the benchmark catalyst (86% conversion, 98.6% selectivity and 67.6% DoD) at the same experimental conditions (260ºC, 4 h).
Regarding our catalytic results compared with the state of the art, the best conversion (85%) and selectivities (82%) for H12-BT dehydrogenation were obtained by Oh et al. with a 3wt%Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. Our bimetallic catalysts show an enhanced performance compared with these results while containing a much lower Pt amount; our lowest Pt content was 0.3wt.%, 10 times lower than the state of the art catalyst.
Regarding our catalytic results compared with the state of the art, the best conversion (85%) and selectivities (82%) for H12-BT dehydrogenation were obtained by Oh et al. with a 3wt%Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. Our bimetallic catalysts show an enhanced performance compared with these results while containing a much lower Pt amount; our lowest Pt content was 0.3wt.%, 10 times lower than the state of the art catalyst.