Decarbonisation Technology - February 2022 Issue

Safe oxygen production for Giga-scale hydrogen generation ASU design and operation relies on engineering expertise to ensure that the Giga-scale production of oxygen tomake low carbon hydrogen is done safely

Stephen B Harrison sbh4

O xygen is one of the main industrial gases and, at present, oil and gas processing and iron and steelmaking are the major consumers of oxygen worldwide. In the future, as there is a progressive decarbonisation of the energy sector, low carbon hydrogen production from natural gas and coal will be a major driver of growth in oxygen demand. Handling hydrogen comes with obvious hazards of flammability and explosion. The production of oxygen also requires the utmost respect for safety and best practices in operations and engineering.

Oxygen is required to make low carbon blue hydrogen

As hydrogen production ramps up, we are leaping orders of magnitude from Mega-scale to Giga- scale projects. The largest hydrogen electrolysers operating today are in the 20 Mega Watt (MW) range. Plans already exist for Giga Watt (GW) systems. Scale-up is also the order of the day for hydrogen production from natural gas and coal. As an example, the H2H Saltend project that is planned to support decarbonisation of the Humber industrial cluster in East Yorkshire, UK. It

Industrial gases sector

O for ATR & N for

Carbon dioxide

H for sulphur removal

Haber-Bosch for ammonia

Oxygen

N as a utility gas

Argon

Helium from natural gas

CO f r om CCUS

Helium

Natural gas for SMR, ATR & POX

Cylinder gases

O for catalyst regeneration & GTL

Nitrogen

O for ATR for methanol

CO f r om CCUS

LNG CNG

Syngas Hydrogen

LPG

Ammonia

Downstream oil/gas

Petrochemicals

Methanol

Upstream oil/gas

Midstream oil/gas

Others

Chemicals sector

Energy sector

Natural gas for SMRs and ATRs for methanol & ammonia

The production of oxygen and other industrial gases is heavily integrated

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