An economic performance evaluation framework for hydrogen production (HP) plants with integrated catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) modules is presented (HP-CMR) in light of their enhanced environmental performance prospects. A detailed comprehensive Net Present Value (NPV) model is first developed in order to assess the economic viability of HP-CMR plants, while irreducible sources of market and regulatory uncertainty are identified and their effect on the plant's economic performance is explicitly taken into account through Monte-Carlo techniques. As a result, the proposed economic performance evaluation framework for an HP-CMR plant allows the derivation of distribution profiles of economic performance outcomes rather than single-point value estimates that often lead to unsatisfactory valuation assessments by overlooking significant uncertainty effects over the plant's lifetime. Within the above framework, the HP-CMR plant is comparatively assessed against the conventional HP plant with and without Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) systems. It is shown that future regulatory action on CO 2 emissions leads to comparatively appealing distribution profiles of economic performance outcomes for HP-CMR plants in the presence of uncertainty, thus offering a window of opportunity for this new technology option to emerge as a viable one for hydrogen production in a carbon-constrained world. Finally, the provision of a set of incentives is considered that could potentially facilitate the demonstration stage of the HP-CMR technology option on the commercial scale.

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A comprehensive economic performance evaluation framework for an actual large-scale watergas-shift Pd-based catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) module for hydrogen production is presented. Since a detailed assessment of the technical performance of the CMR built at WPI has been reported previously [1], the present research study focuses on an assessment of the module's economic performance characteristics, and thus, can be viewed as complementary. The proposed evaluation framework encompasses comprehensive baseline models for both Fixed Capital Investment (FCI) and Total Capital Investment (TCI) while various sources of uncertainty are identified whose effect on CMR's economic performance is explicitly taken into account using Monte Carlo techniques. As a result, insightful distribution profiles of FCI and TCI are derived rather than single-point value estimates and more realistic distributions of CMR economic performance outcomes are generated and statistically characterized. The latter could potentially inform development efforts of this new technology option for hydrogen production purposes.

A comprehensive economic performance evaluation framework for palladium (Pd)-based industrial-scale catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) modules integrated into hydrogen (H2) production systems (HP-CMR) through methane steam reforming has been developed. The HP-CMR technology option offers a promising pathway towards hydrogen production with enhanced environmental performance in a carbon dioxide-constrained world. Within the above context, this paper develops comprehensive baseline models for total capital investment (TCI) and total product cost (TPC) to evaluate the economic performance of CMRs. Various sources of uncertainty (raw material market prices, labour costs, membrane lifetime and maintenance costs, financing costs, etc.) are recognised and their effect on TCI and TPC is explicitly taken into account using Monte Carlo techniques. As a result, insightful distribution profiles of TCI and TPC are derived rather than single-point value estimates and more realistic distributions of CMR economic performance outcomes are generated. Furthermore, tornado diagrams are developed, establishing the predominant effect of palladium unit price, membrane lifetime and financing interest costs on TCI and TPC.

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