HYDROGEN PINCH

Shortage in hydrogen due to increase in demand investments are widely planned for new hydrogen plants and hydrogen recovery units. lower cost alternative to balance the supply and demand is through hydrogen management. Hydrogen pinch approach indentifies optimum hydrogen network which maximizes processing revenue and decreases capital investment

 Hydrogen pinch minimize the flow rate of fresh hydrogen make up and off gas discharge and maximize the flow rate of hydrogen recovery and reuse Steps in carrying out pinch analysis for hydrogen
1) Identify source and sink A. Sink - stream entering the unit B. Source - stream exiting the unit usually before the stream is divided into recirculation and purge gas

2. Arrange source and sink according to the order of purity

Stream Sink 1 Sink 2 Sink 3 Sink 4 Flow rate (Nm/hr) 2495 180.2 554.4 720.7 Purity (%) 80.6 78.9 77.6 75.1

Source 1
Source 2

350
623.8

95
93

Source 3
Source 4 Source 5 Source 6 Source 7

415.8
1801.9 138.9 346.5 457.4

80
75 75 73 70

3. Draw source and sink in a diagram

4. Draw another diagram which is based on hydrogen surplus

 No hydrogen pinch purity in the system. This indicates that more hydrogen is provided to the system than what ideally is needed Can be adjusted by adjusting flow rate of hydrogen source. Surplus diagram becomes pinched and this can reduce waste of hydrogen source

Nitrogen Pinch
Demand of nitrogen increases as it is used in various industries Due to high demand, gas recovery network is used to reduce flow rate of fresh nitrogen and waste nitrogen Flow rate reduction of fresh nitrogen will reduce energy consumption, equipment sizing and gas emissions

 Steps for nitrogen pinch analysis 1. Calculate mass load for each stream Flow rate * concentration /1000 2. Plot source and demand in a graph ( y- axis cumulative mass load, x axis cumulative flow rate)