Evaluation of the Economic and Technological Aspects of Producing Blue Hydrogen via Ethanol-steam Reforming with Carbon Capture

An industrially relevant method for obtaining hydrogen from hydrocarbons without emitting carbon into the atmosphere involves ethanol-steam reforming followed by carbon capture. Herein, we present a detailed conceptual process using ethanol-stream reforming to produce blue hydrogen, integrated with a carbon capture plant, followed by a techno-economic analysis. In the first step, the Aspen plus-based simulation of ethanolstream reforming reactions is performed to optimize the reforming reactor geometrical parameters for a 10 t/ day of hydrogen production. Afterward, the carbon capture system was designed with a standalone absorber and stripper, which were subsequently integrated for solvent makeup calculation. Considering the target value of hydrogen production, the optimized reactor diameter and length were found to be 0.18 and 2 m, respectively, corresponding to reactant flow (200 t/day) and heat duty (3.14 MW) at optimal circumstances. Absorber and stripper packing heights of 12.2 m and 5 m, respectively, with column diameters of 1.22 m and 2.60 m are required to extract 95 % CO2 from the reformed product stream. The techno-economic analysis indicates that the cost of producing one kilogram of H2 is $3.5. The computed internal rate of return is 16.6 %, the discounted payback period is 6 years, and the net present value is $13 million.