The key role of cryogenics in the future hydrogen energy economy

摘要

In the future hydrogen energy economy the liquefaction of the hydrogen for storage and easier transportation will play an important role. For the liquefaction, energy is needed, which can not be neglected in the overall energy economy. In our work we have been looking for a liquefaction process, which brings a drastic energy saving compared with present day technology. We found the main improvement in the choice of a mixture of helium and neon as refrigerant for a Brayton cycle. With this choice and a number of additional innovative process steps, the energy consumption for the liquefaction can be quite lower than in the best plants operating today. The new benchmark value for the power consumption of hydrogen liquefaction should be 7 kWh/kg.