H2POWER: Development of a methodology to calculate life cycle cost of small and medium-scale hydrogen systems
Abstract At this time, hydrogen-based power plants and large hydrogen production facilities are capital intensive and unable to compete financially against hydrocarbon-based energy production facilities. An option to overcome this problem and foster the introduction of hydrogen technology is to introduce small and medium-scale applications such as residential and community hydrogen refueling units. Such units could potentially be used to generate both electricity and heat for the home, as well as hydrogen fuel for the automobile. Cost modeling for the integration of these three forms of energy presents several methodological challenges. This is particularly true since the technology is still in the development phase and both the financial and the environmental cost must be calculated using mainly secondary sources. In order to address these issues and aid in the design of small and medium-scale hydrogen systems, this study presents a computer model to calculate financial and environmental costs of this technology using different hydrogen pathways. The model can design and compare hydrogen refueling units against hydrocarbon-based technologies, including the “gap” between financial and economic costs. Using the methodology, various penalties and incentives that can foster the introduction of hydrogen-based technologies can be added to the analysis to study their impact on financial cost.
Hydrogen as an Alternative: Life Cycle Cost Analysis between Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (Al+Hci) and Gasoline Engine Based on Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
Estimation of the life cycle cost (LCC) for a hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2ICE) that uses hydrogen as an alternative fuel by forecasting a financial investment plan for a period of five years (n = 5). This is influenced by the interest rate of 10% (i = 10). The effect of Annual Operating Cost and salvage value in the LCC for H2ICE would give impact on the cost of investment and economic growth in the long term. The result shows the brake specific fuel consumption to achieve 14% savings for grams per kilowatt hour for the engine (G + H2) compared to the engine (G). The operation of H2ICE in the first year would be increased by 22%, the reason is due to the cost of equipment, maintenance and purchase of new components. However, the percentage of operation cost for the following five to ten year of Present worth (PW) is reduced to 0.36% in the fourth year (n = 4) within the interest rate of 10%. The return of initial investment in the capital-first cost (FC) is to occur at the beginning of the fifth year (n = 5) of H2ICE operations. The cost of savings for the next five years would become more profitable reaching 37% reduction in cost compared to conventional fuel consumption
Numerical tools applied to power reactor noise analysis
In order to be able to calculate the space- and frequency-dependent neutron noise in real inhomogeneous systems in two-group theory, a code was developed for the calculation of the Green's function (dynamic transfer function) of such systems. This paper reports on the development as well as the test and application of the numerical tools employed. The code that was developed yields the space-dependence of the fluctuations of the neutron flux induced by fluctuating properties of the medium in the two-group diffusion approximation and in a two-dimensional representation of heterogeneous systems, for both critical systems and non-critical systems with an external source. Some applications of these tools to power reactor noise analysis are then described, including the unfolding of the parameters of the noise source from the induced neutron noise, measured at a few discrete locations throughout the core. Other concrete applications concern the study of the space-dependence of the Decay Ratio in Boiling Water Reactors, the noise-based estimation of the Moderator Temperature Coefficient of reactivity in Pressurized Water Reactors, the modeling of the beam- and shell-mode core-barrel vibrations in Pressurized Water Reactors, and the investigation of the validity of the point-kinetic approximation in subcritical systems driven by an external source. In most of these applications, calculations performed using the code are compared with at-power plant measurements. Power reactor noise analysis applications of the above type, i.e. core monitoring without disturbing plant operation, is of particular interest in the framework of the extensive program of power uprates worldwide.