Use of Heat Pumps in the Hydrogen Production Cycle at Thermal Power Plants

The paper considers the integration and joint operation of a methane steam reforming unit (MSRU) and a heat pump unit (HPU) at a thermal power plant (TPP) as one of the possible ways to follow the global decarbonization policy. Research methods are simulation modeling of a thermal power plant in the program "United Cycle" and analysis of thermodynamic cycles of heat pumps. The Petrozavodskaya combined heat and power plant (CHPP) was selected as the object of the research. During the research, technological schemes for hydrogen production at the Petrozavodskaya CHPP were developed: with steam extraction to MSRU from a live steam collector and with the use of production steam. A scheme for HPU integration is proposed to reduce the cost of hydrogen and to reduce waste heat. A heat pump is used to preheat natural gas before going to MSRU. A method for determining fuel costs for hydrogen production in the trigeneration cycle of a thermal power plant was developed. The minimum specific fuel consumption for hydrogen production-7.854 t ref.f./t H-2-is achieved in the mode with steam extraction to MSRU from the turbine PT-60-130/13 (industrial extraction with a flow rate of 30 t/h). At this mode, the coefficient of fuel heat utilization is the highest among all modes with hydrogen production-66.18%.