Development of an autonomous control system to enable commercial deployment of novel green hydrogen generators

许多化石燃料消费者希望使用绿色氢来脱碳。但是，通过现场电解进行本地制氢通常是不经济的，或者由于电网容量的限制而不可能。由于运输氢气的高成本，从遥远的来源获得更便宜的绿色氢气变得过于昂贵。目前，工业界正集中精力将氨作为一种低成本运输氢气的方式，并计划在集中设施中大规模地将其转化为氢气。不幸的是，较小规模的最终用户，如燃料电池巴士和卡车运营商，远离这些地点将无法获得这种低成本的氢气。Catalsys开发了一种新型的化学反应器和催化剂系统，可以在所需的规模下有效地裂解氨。我们的系统可以安装在集装箱中，是独立的，只需要一个低功率的电气连接，用于仪器和小型设备。Catalsys系统是一个复杂而紧凑的化学工艺，将位于客户现场。它必须能够响应每个客户对氢气的独特需求，并且需要根据从其他人指定和安装的下游加油站设备接收的信号来实现这一点。我们的产品将由一个中央“虚拟控制室”进行监督/控制，以避免每个站点人工操作的成本。我们将持续收集和分析运营数据，以实现安全运营和预测性维护能力。我们计划从2024年中期开始开始在Tees Valley生产商用机组。我们产品的商业成功将取决于一个强大且功能强大的自动控制系统，以确保无故障运行并符合非常严格的安全要求。我们的系统将是第一个具有独特控制功能的系统。在这个项目中，我们将与一个位于蒂斯谷的分包商和蒂赛德大学合作，进行控制系统的开发、设计和测试。

Many fossil fuel consumers want to use green hydrogen to decarbonise. But local hydrogen production by on-site electrolysis is often uneconomic, or not possible due to grid capacity limitations. Cheaper green hydrogen from distant sources is rendered too expensive by the high cost of transporting hydrogen.Industry is now focusing on ammonia as a way of transporting hydrogen at low cost, and projects are planned to convert this back to hydrogen at very large-scale at centralised facilities. Unfortunately, smaller-scale end users such as fuel cell bus and truck operators who are distant from these locations will not be able to access this low-cost hydrogen.Catalsys has developed a novel chemical reactor and catalyst system that will efficiently crack ammonia at the required scale. Our system will fit in a shipping container, is self-contained and will only require a low-power electrical connection for instruments and minor plant items.The Catalsys system is a complex, yet compact, chemical process that will be located on customer sites. It must be able to respond to each customer's unique demand profile for hydrogen and it needs to do this based on signals received from downstream refuelling station equipment specified and installed by others. Our products will be supervised/controlled by a central "virtual control room" to avoid the cost of manual operators at each site. Operational data will be continuously collected and analysed, enabling safe operation and predictive maintenance capabilities.We plan to begin manufacture of commercial units in Tees Valley from mid-2024\. The commercial success of our product will be dependent on a robust and highly capable autonomous control system to ensure trouble-free operation and conformance with very stringent safety requirements.Our system will be the first-of-a-kind with unique control functionality. In this project, we will work with a Tees Valley-based sub-contractor and Teesside University to undertake the development, design and testing of the control system.