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Design selection and operation of hydrogen compression facilities : a techno-economical study

par Jottrand, Samuel
Président du jury Lubrano Lavadera, Marco
Promoteur Hendrick, Patrick
Publication Non publié, 2026-06-04

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :

Hydrogen is likely to play an important role in the transition towards a low‑carbon energy system. It can replace other energy sources to help decarbonise sectors that are difficult to electrify, and it can also reduce the carbon footprint of existing industrial hydrogen production, which currently relies heavily on fossil fuels.Producing green hydrogen, however, requires a more decentralised approach, as renewable energy sources are typically spread across different locations. This decentralisation creates a greater need for enhanced transport and storage infrastructure to ensure that hydrogen can be delivered safely and efficiently wherever it is required. This thesis investigates the ways to reduce the cost of compression of hydrogen for specific case studies. The different technologies of compression are presented to provide an overview of the current state of the art and the future technologies under research and development. A first case study investigated is the compression and storage in hydrogen refuelling stations. The main technologies present in today's hydrogen economy for refuelling stations are reciprocating compressors, and more specifically mechanically driven compressors, hydraulically driven compressors and diaphragm compressors. Models of these compressors have been developed in the framework of this thesis to estimate the work and mass flow rate delivered by those compressors under different operating conditions. These models of reciprocating compressors were implemented in a broader hydrogen refuelling station model. Simulations were performed on daily vehicles arrival to estimate the cost of dispensing. Control optimisation was implemented using Bayesian optimisation to select target pressure of the station tanks to reduce the operational cost of compression. In addition, and based on optimised control scenarios, design optimisation can be performed to also reduce the capital cost of the station, together with the operational costs. The results show that using this strategy can help reduce the total cost of a station by 13% compared to the state of the art. Hydrogen pipelines will very likely become an unavoidable feature of the green hydrogen value chain. Recompression stations are one of the main compound of the total cost of pipelines infrastructure. A validated pipeline model was developed to accurately compute the pressure losses of the hydrogen flow under various operating conditions. With this model, a pipeline design could be selected based on the capital cost and the compression cost associated. It was shown that to be economically viable, the pipeline should be operated in a certain window of flow capacity. Unsteady simulations were also performed to highlight the importance of the design in varying conditions, which are very likely to occur with unsteady green hydrogen production. For the mass flow rates of hydrogen considered (about 100 kg/s), the only technology likely to reach this requirement is centrifugal compressors. A centrifugal compressor model was developed based on enthalpy loss correlations and was successfully validated on experimental data. Then a mixed integer non linear programming optimisation was performed to select the design minimising the operational cost of compression.