Alessandro de Cataldo
PhD thesis title: Process development and optimization of flexible plants for power and hydrogen production with CO2 capture and storage
Academic Tutor: Paolo Chiesa
Academic Supervisor: Matteo Carmelo Romano
PhD cycle: 36° (see all student profiles of the same cycle > LINK)
BSc: Mechanical Engineering, Università degli studi de L'Aquila
MSc: Energy Engineering - Power production, Politecnico di Milano
Energy for Motion grant for “Conference Award” awarded by the Energy Department of Politecnico di Milano (2022)
Thesis abstract
My PhD project investigates flexible solutions for cogeneration of hydrogen and electricity from natural gas with carbon capture and storage. The generic plant consists of a chemical island with the associated steam cycle and a combined cycle, several natural gas conversion technologies were considered to assess their feasibility: steam reformers (Fired tubular FTR and auto-thermal ATR) and methane pyrolizers. The ability to operate by producing hydrogen for export or syngas to be burned in the gas turbine allows the reforming section of the plant to operate with higher capacity factors.
Personal interest in my research theme
Many studies in literature have focussed on hydrogen production with carbon capture (CCS) and storage and on power plants with CCS. However, there is a lack of studies on flexibly operated power and hydrogen plants and on retrofitting of existing combined cycles for this scope. Through the modeling of several plants, the study gave me the opportunity to create a clear and referenced view of technologies to produce both hydrogen, decarbonizing energy-intensive sectors such as industry and transportation, and dispatchable electricity helping the transition to a net zero economy.
