Periodic Reporting for period 3 - COSMHYC XL (COmbined hybrid Solution of Metal HYdride and mechanical Compressors for eXtra Large scale hydrogen refuelling stations)
Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-06-30
Hydrogen is one of the most promising solutions for large-scale transport modes, including trucks, busses, trains and professional vehicle fleets. For these applications, a dedicated hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is necessary, incl. hydrogen compressors able to meet challenging constraints in terms of flow rate and availability. In addition, to address the diversity of large-scale mobility applications, compression solutions should be modular and scalable solution. COSMHYC XL addressed those needs by developing an innovative compression solution for extra-large hydrogen refuelling stations, based on the combination of a metal hydride compressor and a diaphragm compressor.
Thanks to significant research and innovation activities, from core materials and components to system integration, this new hybrid compression solution contains no critical raw materials.
Also, an innovative system integration concept enables to optimise energy management and the control strategy, leading to improved efficiency & reduced O&M costs, thereby contributing to reduce the production costs of hydrogen and making it a competitive fuel for large-scale mobility.
1/10 scale prototypes were developed, build and submitted to long-term test phase under real conditions. Those demonstrated that hydrogen flow rates, as well as the overall compression ratio, can be drastically increased. Also, the project allowed to demonstrate major improvement in reliability allowing to increase the availability of hydrogen refuelling stations.
Finally, the analysis of techno-economic aspects both allowed to better understand the needs of the market and to demonstrated the techno-economic performances of both the metal hydride and the mechanical compressor. Overall costs improvements of 0.5€/kg hydrogen in average, and > 1 €/kg hydrogen in favourable cases were demonstrated. On this basis, a solid exploitation roadmap could be established and practical steps toward market entrance were accomplishes already during the project duration.
Thanks to significant research and innovation activities, from core materials and components to system integration, this new hybrid compression solution contains no critical raw materials.
Also, an innovative system integration concept enables to optimise energy management and the control strategy, leading to improved efficiency & reduced O&M costs, thereby contributing to reduce the production costs of hydrogen and making it a competitive fuel for large-scale mobility.
1/10 scale prototypes were developed, build and submitted to long-term test phase under real conditions. Those demonstrated that hydrogen flow rates, as well as the overall compression ratio, can be drastically increased. Also, the project allowed to demonstrate major improvement in reliability allowing to increase the availability of hydrogen refuelling stations.
Finally, the analysis of techno-economic aspects both allowed to better understand the needs of the market and to demonstrated the techno-economic performances of both the metal hydride and the mechanical compressor. Overall costs improvements of 0.5€/kg hydrogen in average, and > 1 €/kg hydrogen in favourable cases were demonstrated. On this basis, a solid exploitation roadmap could be established and practical steps toward market entrance were accomplishes already during the project duration.
COSMHYC XL started with an economic analysis confirming that the envisaged hybrid compression system, allowing for a whole range of configurations, is well adapted for different large-scale Fuel Cell transport applications (e.g. rigid trucks, semi-trailer tractors, city bus, regional trains). Technical and economic requirements were set, with the contribution of an advisory committee including experts and end-users, and integrated in the design of the different components of the system as well as in the large-scale oriented system integration. Comprehensive technical activities were then conducted to develop and build the metal hydride compressor and the mechanical compressor prototypes, with all their components.
The new designed dual-crank mechanical compressor, including all balance of plant components, was build and submitted to more than 2500 h of successful tests, corresponding to more than 100 million of cycles. The tests demonstrated that capacities of 120kg/h (2-stage) and 240kg/h in duplex configuration can be reached, while an economic assessment demonstrated reduction of costs of manufacturing.
For the metal hydride compressor, three new hydrides without rare earths where selected for three stages allowing compression from 2 & 5 bar to 450 bar. A comprehensive study on degradation of such materials in case of pollutants (N2, CO, CO2, O2 and H20) allowed to better master the manufacturing process of hydrides and to ensure reliable operation of the compressive reactors. A long phase of technical development followed, enabling to build the metal hydrides compressive reactors. The metal hydride compressor was built, including its gas management system, its thermal management unit, the overall electric integration, the control and monitoring system, the safety management system and the outdoor containerisation. The metal hydride compressor prototype was successfully built at scale and certified. After successful TÜV approval of the full prototype, over 1000h of successful tests could be achieved, without visible degradation. Thus, major improvement in the overall reliability of the system integration & control was achieved, validating low O&M costs. In addition, a feasibility study allowed to demonstrate that electricity consumption can be reduced down to < 2 kWh/kg thanks to coupling with heat pumps.
Finally, the COSMHYC XL compression concept and its components (innovative metal hydride compressor and new dual crank mechanical compressor) is validated at TRL5 and the feasibility study shows its scalability to 2 t/day or more, with the possibility to meet larger peak demand up to 120 kg/h, depending on uses cases.
The testing activities offered the opportunity of presenting the prototypes to potential customers. Beyond site visits, the final webinar allowed detailed presentation of the results to a wide range of experts and stakeholders, from components suppliers to equipment and vehicles manufacturers. These dissemination activities allowed to confirmed the interest of the hydrogen community and the need for new compression solution This market traction supports the strong willingness of the partners to transform the project results into commercial products, following the path defined in the final exploitation roadmap of the project.
The new designed dual-crank mechanical compressor, including all balance of plant components, was build and submitted to more than 2500 h of successful tests, corresponding to more than 100 million of cycles. The tests demonstrated that capacities of 120kg/h (2-stage) and 240kg/h in duplex configuration can be reached, while an economic assessment demonstrated reduction of costs of manufacturing.
For the metal hydride compressor, three new hydrides without rare earths where selected for three stages allowing compression from 2 & 5 bar to 450 bar. A comprehensive study on degradation of such materials in case of pollutants (N2, CO, CO2, O2 and H20) allowed to better master the manufacturing process of hydrides and to ensure reliable operation of the compressive reactors. A long phase of technical development followed, enabling to build the metal hydrides compressive reactors. The metal hydride compressor was built, including its gas management system, its thermal management unit, the overall electric integration, the control and monitoring system, the safety management system and the outdoor containerisation. The metal hydride compressor prototype was successfully built at scale and certified. After successful TÜV approval of the full prototype, over 1000h of successful tests could be achieved, without visible degradation. Thus, major improvement in the overall reliability of the system integration & control was achieved, validating low O&M costs. In addition, a feasibility study allowed to demonstrate that electricity consumption can be reduced down to < 2 kWh/kg thanks to coupling with heat pumps.
Finally, the COSMHYC XL compression concept and its components (innovative metal hydride compressor and new dual crank mechanical compressor) is validated at TRL5 and the feasibility study shows its scalability to 2 t/day or more, with the possibility to meet larger peak demand up to 120 kg/h, depending on uses cases.
The testing activities offered the opportunity of presenting the prototypes to potential customers. Beyond site visits, the final webinar allowed detailed presentation of the results to a wide range of experts and stakeholders, from components suppliers to equipment and vehicles manufacturers. These dissemination activities allowed to confirmed the interest of the hydrogen community and the need for new compression solution This market traction supports the strong willingness of the partners to transform the project results into commercial products, following the path defined in the final exploitation roadmap of the project.
The COSMHYC XL project allowed to build, test and combine unique compressors prototypes, with the first full scale metal hydride compressor and a fully new dual-cranks mechanical compressor, also available in duplex configuration for higher capacities. The results in terms of flow rates and compression ratios are going beyond the one obtained during the previous COSMHYC project. Also, major improvements in reliability have been achieved compared to COSMHYC and an anticipated electricity consumption of <1 kWh/kg H2 for future commercial metal hydride compressors was demonstrated if waste heat is available, a huge improvement compared to state-of-art of mechanical compressors. Thermodynamic modelling shows that even without available waste heat, competitive electricity consumptions can be achieved by using heat pumps for driving the MHC, which can reduce the MHC electricity consumption by 25 to 75% compared to standard electrical heaters, depending on temperature and use case.
All technical data collected during the test phases are unique and will also be of high value for the consortium, also beyond the project in the scope of follow-up projects. Also the know-how gathered during building and certification of the prototypes is of high relevance for preparing the industrialization and commercialization of the compressors.
Finally, the techno economic analysis (for a future commercial compression product, assuming a production of 50 full-size hybrid compression units per year), shows that the techno-economic performance of both the metal hydride and the mechanical compressor could be further improved compared to the predecessor project COSMHYC. The COSMHYC XL solution shows clear cost advantage over the pre-project SoA compression technology for HRS. This cost advantage (0.5 €/kg with average assumptions, and >1 €/kg in favourable cases) exist for all analysed HRS compression applications, considering different hydrogen supply modes and supply pressures, 35 MPa as well as 70 MPa fuel dispensing.
All technical data collected during the test phases are unique and will also be of high value for the consortium, also beyond the project in the scope of follow-up projects. Also the know-how gathered during building and certification of the prototypes is of high relevance for preparing the industrialization and commercialization of the compressors.
Finally, the techno economic analysis (for a future commercial compression product, assuming a production of 50 full-size hybrid compression units per year), shows that the techno-economic performance of both the metal hydride and the mechanical compressor could be further improved compared to the predecessor project COSMHYC. The COSMHYC XL solution shows clear cost advantage over the pre-project SoA compression technology for HRS. This cost advantage (0.5 €/kg with average assumptions, and >1 €/kg in favourable cases) exist for all analysed HRS compression applications, considering different hydrogen supply modes and supply pressures, 35 MPa as well as 70 MPa fuel dispensing.