Four major hydrogen production methods and cost reduction approaches
Due to electricity accounting for about 80% of the total production cost of water electrolysis hydrogen, the key to the cost of water electrolysis hydrogen production lies in energy consumption. There are two ways to reduce costs: first, to reduce energy consumption in the electrolysis process, which can be achieved through the development of PEM (proton exchange membrane electrolysis) and SOEC (solid oxide electrolysis) technologies; The second is to use low-cost electricity as the raw material for hydrogen production, and the key is to rely on the development of photovoltaics and wind power. Based on the average electricity price of 0.61 yuan/kW · h for large-scale industries, the current cost of hydrogen production through electrolysis of water is 3.69 yuan/Nm3. When the electricity price is below 0.50 yuan/kW · h, the cost of hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water can be equivalent to gasoline. The cost of photovoltaic system power generation is 0.5930 yuan/kWh, and the cost of wind power per kilowatt hour is about 0.3656 yuan/kWh, and there is still some room for decline in the future.
Methane steam reforming (SMR) in natural gas hydrogen production is the most mature hydrogen production technology in industry, accounting for approximately 70% of the world's hydrogen production (IEA data). The price of natural gas in our country is influenced by resource endowment, and the central and western basins where natural gas resources are mainly concentrated are also the regions with the lowest prices. Especially in Xinjiang, Qinghai and other regions, the basic gate station price of natural gas is as low as about 1.2 yuan/thousand cubic meters. According to calculations, when the price of natural gas is 2 yuan/Nm3, the cost of hydrogen production is calculated to be 1.35 yuan/Nm3, which has a significant cost advantage compared to electrolytic water hydrogen production.
The main pattern of coal resources in our country is that there is more in the west and less in the east, while the north is rich and the south is poor. Inner Mongolia and Shanxi have leading coal production and relatively low coal prices. When the coal price is 600 yuan, the cost of large-scale coal gasification to produce hydrogen is 1.1 yuan/Nm3. If in areas with abundant coal resources, the cost of hydrogen production may decrease to 0.34 yuan/Nm3 when the coal price drops to 200 yuan/ton. However, due to the limited space for coal price reduction and the large scale of coal gasification hydrogen production enterprises, there is limited room for cost reduction in coal hydrogen production in the future.
The cost of hydrogen production from chemical byproducts is difficult to calculate separately. At present, the propane dehydrogenation projects planned and under construction in China are expected to produce and sell 868000 tons of hydrogen as a byproduct. The planned ethane cracking capacity in our country will reach 14.6 million tons, and the hydrogen that can be produced and sold as a by-product will reach 904000 tons.
Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ZbsAWSMxnnmrdpU7FxvrSQ