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US 2025/0060153 A1Published application
System and Method for Precooling a Hydrogen Feed Stream with Concurrent Nitrogen Liquefaction
OwnerBrian R. Kromer, Jeremiah J. Rauchinventors
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Abstract
A highly efficient refrigeration system and process for precooling of a hydrogen feed stream with concurrent nitrogen liquefaction is disclosed. The disclosed refrigeration system and associated methods employ a reverse Brayton refrigeration cycle using a nitrogen based refrigerant and a fully integrated three pinion bridge (BriM) machine operatively coupling at least two turbine/expanders and at least four nitrogen refrigerant compression stages.
Claims22
A refrigeration system for precooling of hydrogen and liquefaction of nitrogen, the refrigeration system comprising:
- an integral gear machine comprising a drive assembly, a bull gear, and a plurality of pinions arranged to drive four or more refrigerant compression stages of the refrigeration system and for receiving work produced by the at least two turbine/expanders of the refrigeration system;
- a refrigeration circuit configured to circulate a plurality of nitrogen streams including a high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream and a hydrogen feed stream;
- an expansion valve disposed in the refrigeration circuit configured for expanding the high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream to yield a two-phase nitrogen stream;
- a phase separator disposed within the refrigeration circuit and in fluid communication with the expansion valve and configured to receive the two-phase nitrogen stream and separate the two-phase nitrogen stream into a nitrogen liquid and a gaseous nitrogen stream;
- a first heat exchanger or set of first heat exchange cores disposed within the refrigeration circuit and configured to cool the hydrogen feed stream and cool the high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream via indirect heat exchange with exhaust streams from the at least two turbine/expanders and the gaseous nitrogen stream from the phase separator;
- and
- a second heat exchanger or set of second heat exchange cores disposed within the refrigeration circuit and configured to receive the cooled hydrogen feed stream from the first heat exchanger or set of first heat exchange cores and precool the cooled hydrogen feed stream to a temperature of about 80 Kelvin or lower via indirect heat exchange with a liquid nitrogen stream received from the phase separator.
4 more elements
A method of precooling a hydrogen feed stream comprising the steps of:
- (a) cooling a high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream and the hydrogen feed stream in a first heat exchanger or first set of heat exchanger cores via indirect heat exchange with a low pressure gaseous recycle stream and a medium pressure gaseous recycle stream to yield a cooled, high hydrogen feed stream;
- (b) diverting a first portion of the high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream from within the first heat exchanger or first set of heat exchanger cores to yield a first diverted stream;
- (c) expanding the first diverted stream in a warm turbine/expander to yield a warm exhaust stream that forms a part of the medium pressure gaseous recycle stream at a temperature colder than the first diverted stream;
- (d) diverting a second portion of the high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream from within the first heat exchanger or first set of heat exchanger cores to yield a second diverted stream, wherein the second diverted stream is at a temperature colder than the first diverted stream;
- (e) expanding the second diverted stream in a cold turbine/expander to yield a cold exhaust stream that forms another part of the medium pressure gaseous recycle stream at a temperature colder than the second diverted stream;
- (f) recycling the medium pressure gaseous recycle stream through the first heat exchanger or first set of heat exchanger cores to cool the high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream and the hydrogen feed stream;
- (g) expanding the remaining portion of the of the high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream in an expansion valve to yield a two-phase nitrogen stream;
- (h) separating the two-phase nitrogen stream in a phase separator to yield a liquid nitrogen stream and the low pressure gaseous recycle stream;
- (i) precooling the cooled hydrogen feed stream in a second heat exchanger or second set of heat exchanger cores via indirect heat exchange with the liquid nitrogen to yield a precooled hydrogen feed stream at a temperature of less than or equal to 80 Kelvin;
- and
- (j) recycling the low pressure gaseous recycle stream through the first heat exchanger or first set of heat exchanger cores to cool the high pressure nitrogen refrigerant stream and the hydrogen feed stream.
8 more elements
The method of claim 22, wherein the second diverted stream is greater than the volume of the first diverted stream and wherein the cold exhaust stream is at a temperature of about 97 Kelvin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.