Optimal planning of inter-plant hydrogen integration (IPHI) in eco-industrial park with P-graph and game theory analyses

Abstract

With the rising demand for hydrogen in petrochemical and refineries complexes, the optimisation of hydrogen utility is getting more attention. Through inter-plant hydrogen integration (IPHI), the overall hydrogen consumption and purged gases could be further reduced by exchanging hydrogen gases among multiple plants which could reduce the climate change effect. In this work, a P-graph methodology is proposed for the optimal design of IPHI with regeneration-reuse/recycle via a centralised utility hub. Green hydrogen is incorporated in this work in the call for climate change adaption. A case study involving green hydrogen sourced from solar energy, palm oil mill effluent, and wastewater was used to demonstrate the proposed methodology. Four integration schemes were analysed using game theory-based approach for decision making. In IPHI, each participating plant may seek to maximise its own benefits due to rational self-interest. Hence, a game theory-based approach was used to analyse the interaction of participating plants in developing the IPHI schemes. With the implementation of carbon tax, it is potential for motivating collaborations as additional gains can be achieved through collaboration compared to short-sighted self-interest decision. The proposed methodology indicates that collective welfare can be maximised through cooperation among all networks to pursue Pareto optimality and in line with the commitment to tackle climate change and reaching sustainainability agenda.