Part of the HyScaling project is to develop an operating strategy for large-scale green hydrogen alkaline water electrolyzer plants. Given a greenfield situation and high labor costs for 24/7 chemical plants, along with a foreseeable shortage of operators and technologists, moving towards an autonomous plant is a logical step.
A small team of experts have studied the possibility of autonomous hydrogen plants. The result is a vision document giving the framework for a completely new strategy to operate electrolyzers at an industrial scale, providing the operators with an approach which covers their needs.
Autonomous operations for a hydrogen plant are challenging but possible. Most important is to cover the three aspects of people, knowledge and technology:
- People:
o Create a cultural fit and a ‘winning team’
o Introduce management systems that fit with challenges, including the ‘CRTA’ loop - Technology:
o Use state-based control for automation
o Invest in fundamentals and implementation of artificial intelligence
o Installation of alarm management 4.0
o Make use of robots - Knowledge:
o Introduction of Predictive Safety
o Implement a maintenance and reliability strategy in line with business needs
o One of the biggest challenges will be collecting historical data for AI training
The research for this vision was carried out by the Perfact Group.