Gasconsult has filed a patent application covering the cold end liquefaction circuit of the hydrogen liquefaction process. This proprietary configuration simplifies the low-pressure production of LH2 and further reduces capital cost.

The company said that since initiating its hydrogen liquefaction activities, more advanced LH2 schemes under development are projecting a liquefaction power demand of ~7 kWh/kg. This power demand is an improvement on current operating practice and is low relative to the ~50 kWh/kg required to produce electrolytic hydrogen. However, the capital costs of liquefaction and electrolysis plants are of the same order of magnitude. These relativities caused Gasconsult to focus on capital cost reduction as its main driver for LH2 liquefaction, while also targeting a power demand comparable to the best-in-class schemes. 

In Q1 2021, Gasconsult revealed the details of its patent pending LH2 pre-cooling technology, OHL, through an article published in H2Tech. By eliminating the high cost of the refrigerant infrastructure associated with mixed refrigerant pre-cooling, the company achieved an equipment count reduction of around 25% in the pre-cooling circuit. The OHL configuration achieved significant CAPEX reduction concurrent with improved process efficiency.

Gasconsult can now propose an integrated system for pre-cooling and the cold end of large-scale LH2 plants, with power requirement ~7kWh/kg, and much reduced investment cost. The pre-cooling refrigerant is readily available natural gas or nitrogen in a closed circuit. The cold end uses hydrogen and no costly or difficult to source refrigerants are required. The company is seeking opportunities to demonstrate the combined scheme.