Here you’ll get benchmarks of the major suppliers of small and larger scale hydrogen process plants.
Several clients have expressed the wish to understand the capabilities and competitive position of major suppliers of large-scale hydrogen production plants that are suitable for onsite hydrogen projects.
Esprit therefore carried out a benchmarking study the first time in 2009. This has been updated using more recent information.
BENCHMARKING ( COMPARISON & EVALUATION)
Now we’ll benchmark hydrogen plant suppliers’ economic and technology. The goal is to find out which supplier is the best in terms of economic and design performance.
Economic Benchmarking
The tables below show the economic comparison of the various vendors:
On the small reformer, the Foster-Wheeler offering appears to be significantly better than the others under all circumstances. This is due to a good process efficiency combined with low capital.
In the case of the larger plants, the evaluated costs are very close for all of the main vendors. Foster Wheeler has the lowest capital costs and good energy efficiency.
Table: Benchmarking Large Reformer Suppliers
The table below summarises the key elements of steam reforming technology.
There is no difference in technology except in project execution efficiency.Table: Design & Technology
The key findings of the benchmarking process are that all of the major suppliers can provide plants that will produce hydrogen economically and reliably. The final choice of vendor will depend on local economics, market conditions and profit expectations at the time. All players claim proprietary technology features to enhance performance, economics or durability, but generally, their competitors have similar features or their own proprietary technology that will provide the necessary performance. A typical example is in the claims for PSA’s where the outcome was essentially identical for all vendors but each claimed technology advantage, experience, and optimized sizing.
