(207a) Model-Based Development of High-Purity Hydrogen Production Unit for Hydrogen Refueling Stations

A conceptual high-purity hydrogen production unit (100 kg hydrogen per day), comprising methane-steam reforming, water-gas shift reactors and pressure-swing adsorption process, for hydrogen refueling stations was developed by the model-based methodology. The system should satisfy the main prerequisites for actual application such as 1) higher than 70 % hydrogen production efficiency on the basis of higher heating values and 2) lower than 10 ppm of CO concentration at the outlet of the CO removal process. The heat exchanging system between heat sources and sinks in the reforming process was optimized by the commercial process simulation software package and the heat and mass transport phenomena in the steam-methane were also intensively studied by the computational fluid dynamic models. In addition, the optimal vacuum pressure swing adsorption process was also developed to purify the hydrogen from the product gas of the water-gas shift reactor. Thus, the developed system was tested and the operating data was compared with the mathematically predicted values so that the fidelity of the model-based process development techniques is evaluated. The proposed model-based process development techniques will contribute to the optimization and scale-up of the process.