Synthesis of hydrogen network with hydrogen header of intermediate purity

•Propose a superstructure-based mathematical programming model for the synthesis of hydrogen network with intermediate hydrogen headers.•Investigate the relationships among the optimal flow rate of hydrogen utility, the number of hydrogen headers, and the number of connections.•Achieve the minimum flow rate of hydrogen utility with two hydrogen headers.

In order to simplify the network configuration and enhance the expandability and flexibility of the hydrogen network, one or two hydrogen utility headers are typically set with the consideration of requirement of hydrogen consumers. This paper proposed a superstructure-based mathematical programming model for the synthesis of hydrogen network with intermediate hydrogen header. The comprehensive superstructure is embedded with hydrogen utility, internal hydrogen sources and sinks, hydrogen headers, fuel system, compressors, purifiers and all the feasible interconnections between them. Two case studies are utilized to illustrate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed approach. The results show that the optimal flow rate of hydrogen utility will be decreased with the increase of the total number of connections as well as the increase of the number of hydrogen headers. The minimum flow rate of hydrogen utility for direct reuse/recycle without any intermediate hydrogen header can be achieved with the emplacement of two intermediate hydrogen headers. Besides, there is no direct connection among the hydrogen sources and hydrogen sinks. The Pareto front is made for the comparison on the flowrate of hydrogen utility and number of connections. The purification reuse/recycle scheme is investigated with the installation of purifier and the flowrate of hydrogen utility is reduced further.

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