Reduce CAPEX and OPEX for better future
CAPEX (capital expenditure) and OPEX (operating expenses) are the two types of expenditure that will define the overall levelized cost. How these will affect blue hydrogen production is explored below.
CAPEX
Capital expenditures (CAPEX) represent the funds used to acquire, upgrade, and maintain the physical assets associated with a plant such as property, buildings, technology, equipment, piping, and other parts of the plant.
To best capture economy of scale, it is important to maintain single line production as much as possible. Once single line capacity is no longer feasible, a lot of equipment, instruments and piping will be duplicated, and the relative cost of capacity addition will accelerate. In other words: it is cheaper to increase the size of a reactor, than it is to buy two reactors.
When producing at large scale, single-line capacity is therefore an incredibly important consideration.
OPEX
Operating expenses (OPEX) are costs associated with manufacturing of goods and typically include cost of material, cost of labor and manufacturing overhead.
Energy consumption during operation falls under OPEX and is an important parameter. Typically, the required energy will come from burning of fuel and will generate a carbon footprint. Reduction of energy consumption is therefore necessary both from an OPEX and climate impact points of view.
To lower the energy consumption in a blue hydrogen plant, the reforming section needs to be fully integrated with the carbon capture section ensuring that any surplus energy from one section is utilized in the other, minimizing or avoiding thereby energy import.
