Zero-emissions gas-fired cogeneration of power and hydrogen

International Gas Union stated at the 21st World Gas Conference in June 2000 that even a small portion of gas reserves can cover world demand over 200 years at the current production rate. Hence, the dominant energy source in the coming century is to be natural gas with an increased role of convergence of gas and power industry on zero-emission basis. In the paper, a scheme of gas-fired cogeneration of power and hydrogen is presented. It is a further development of a quasicombined zero-emission power cycle, published earlier. As a new element, it includes the chemical recuperation by methane-steam conversion. Mass, energy and exergy balances, T–S diagram of CO2 part of the cycle and exergy efficiency in design point (89%) are presented. As it is essentially zero-emission, the plant might be located in a densely populated urban area for power, hydrogen and heat supply.