SOL2HY2 (Solar To Hydrogen Hybrid Cycles) is an European project about hydrogen production by water decomposition powered by solar energy. This is a major component for sustainable and carbon-free hydrogen supply: solar-powered thermo-chemical cycles are capable to directly transfer concentrated sunlight into chemical energy by a series of chemical and electrochemical reactions.
The challenges remain mostly in dealing with materials (electrolyser, concentrator, acid decomposer/cracker and plant components) and with the whole process flowsheet optimization, tailored to specific solar input and plant site location.
Besides providing key materials and process solutions, for the first time the whole production chain and flowsheet are connected with multi-objective design and optimization algorithms ultimately leading to hydrogen plants and technology “green concepts” commercialization.
This presentation is focused on the optimization process, which also exploits metamodeling techniques, considering different locations and scenarios, with the aim of minimizing costs and maximizing the percentage of renewable hydrogen produced.