Development of a 240,000 kg/Day Hydrogen Pipeline Centrifugal Compressor for the Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Delivery and Production Program
Concepts NREC has completed the detailed design of a six-stage hydrogen compressor rated for industrial gas pipeline service. A single-stage prototype system has also been designed to enable the controlled laboratory testing of the mechanical elements of the compressor subsystems. The project has successfully met the Department of Energy’s technical objectives including: • Develop and demonstrate an advanced centrifugal compressor system for high-pressure hydrogen pipeline transport to support the DOE’s strategic hydrogen economy infrastructure plan. • Deliver 100,000 to 1,000,000 kg/day of 99.99% hydrogen gas from generation site(s) to forecourt stations. • Compression from 350 psig to 1,000 psig or greater. • Reduce initial installed system equipment cost to less than $9M (compressor package of $5.4M) for 240,000 kg/day system by FY 2017. • Reduce package footprint and improve packaging design. • Achieve transport delivery costs below $1–2/GGE (the DOE’s target as given in the original FOA). • Reduce maintenance cost to below 3% of Total Capital Investment by FY 2017. • Increase system reliability to avoid purchasing redundant systems. • Maintain hydrogen efficiency (as defined by the DOE equal to 1-Compression Specific Energy/Hydrogen High Heating Value) to 98% or greater. • Reduce H2 leakage to less than 0.5% by FY 2017.