Efficient Solution Strategy for Hydrogen Network Synthesis Considering the Group Cascade Layout of Compressors

Hydrogen is an important raw material for fuel and other chemical products in refineries. Hydrogen consumption can be reduced through a hydrogen recovery system known as a hydrogen network (HN). Optimizing the HN, particularly concerning compressor arrangements, has been consistently been challenging. To achieve a simultaneous solution, traditional research often necessitates structural simplifications in modeling, which excludes many alternative compressor layouts and potentially results in suboptimal solutions. To address this problem, this work proposes a HN model considering the group cascade layout of compressors, which accounts for a wide array of potential scenarios involving up to three compressors connected in series. A new optimization-based two-stage solution strategy is correspondingly introduced to assist the simultaneous HN synthesis, which also makes the issues with uncertain pressures solvable. The performance of this method has been demonstrated to be exceptional across all three studied cases. The optimal results of the first two cases exhibit a compressor cost saving of 2%–3% and the shortest solution time compared with recent studies. The final case illustrates that this model is capable of addressing the issues involving the process unit pressure optimization.