Development of a generic OTS for hydrogen production plants

Author

Navas Hierro, Eduardo

The main goal of this master thesis is to build a generic Operator Training Simulator (OTS) of an ammonia production plant. The scope of this project is to simulate the first step of the process: the production of hydrogen from natural gas. Haldor Topsøe plant design has been selected for this goal, as the synthesis gas section has a traditional design. The process is divided in five main parts: desulfurization, reforming, water-gas shift, gas purification, and methanation.
For this task, a steady state and a dynamic model of the hydrogen production plant have been modelled first using Aspen HYSYS. The results in normal operation of these models have been compared to validate the dynamic model. Then, the interface for the operator has been designed and connected to the simulation model using Instructor Station. Finally, three sce-narios (turndown, blocked outlet, first reformer unavailable heating) have been executed that allow the observation of the dynamic response of the plant against a perturbation so the op-erator can manipulate the required variables to correct the deviations of the model from nor-mal operation.

Director

Nomen Ribé, Rosa
Alós Sanz, Miquel Àngel

Degree

IQS SE - Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering

Date

2022-06-05