Integrated method and system for generating hydrogen and other commodities on the water

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, a system and the use thereof. According to the invention, hydrogen and oxygen are generated by means of a water-borne platform and, for example, the hydrogen and oxygen so produced are transported ashore and compressed and / or further compressed there.

Description

[0001] Integrated process and system for the production of hydrogen and other goods on water

[0002] The invention relates to a method and system for producing hydrogen on a body of water and to a use for its transport.

[0003] The invention should enable the optimal use of available resources in the most sustainable and / or integrated manner possible.

[0004] The use of surplus energy for plant and animal breeding is known from US 2023 337,595 A1. GB 2449620 A describes the use of drilling platforms to generate renewable energy.

[0005] The invention is intended to improve resource-saving and integrated production.

[0006] Hydrogen is an important energy source for the energy transition. Its production is energy-intensive. In addition, numerous platforms for oil and / or gas extraction are / will be obsolete due to the energy transition and other reasons. Instead of being disposed of, they can be used to produce hydrogen. The production of hydrogen on water is particularly advantageous because not only is the water required for electrolysis immediately available, but other factors can also be used inexpensively. For example, existing infrastructure such as gas or oil pipelines can be used, a large area on the water is available for the installation of solar cells, and the platform itself is available without competition from other uses, which can even reduce the warming of the water. In addition, the reduced solar radiation in the water can be positively used for the breeding of marine life, especially in warm regions of the world.Food and oxygen can be provided immediately without much additional effort or use of resources.

[0007] The object is therefore achieved by a method according to claim 1, a system according to claim 13 and a use according to claim 15. Further advantageous embodiments are set out in the subclaims and in the following description of the invention.

[0008] The object is thus achieved by a process for generating hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis. The process according to the invention is carried out using a platform arranged on a body of water, in particular a ship or a converted drilling platform. For this purpose, purified water is obtained on the platform by purifying water from the body of water, and hydrogen and oxygen are generated from the purified water from the body of water by electrolysis.

[0009] The object is also achieved by a system for the extraction of hydrogen and oxygen, as well as, in particular, minerals, metals, fertilizers, drinking water, and / or marine life, especially fish. According to the invention, the system is a platform arranged and / or capable of being arranged on a body of water, in particular a ship or a converted drilling platform. Advantageously, the platform can either be a floating platform or have means for mounting it on the seabed.

[0010] The problem is also solved by using a gas or oil pipeline for the transport of hydrogen and / or oxygen produced on a body of water to land, wherein the hydrogen and / or oxygen is compressed and / or recompressed on land.

[0011] Advantageously, the water can be purified by filtration.

[0012] Advantageously, filtration can retain algae, which are then pressed into fish feed. Advantageously, the body of water can be salty, especially salt water, and water purification can involve desalination.

[0013] Advantageously, the brine obtained during desalination can be used to extract minerals and / or metals, in particular containing elements of the light metals, in particular lithium, magnesium, scandium, rubidium, and / or elements of the boron group, in particular boron, gallium and / or indium, and / or elements of the vanadium group, in particular vanadium, and / or elements of the chromium group, in particular molybdenum, in particular in metallic and / or crystalline form.

[0014] Advantageously, the platform can be a converted gas and / or oil production platform.

[0015] Advantageously, the oxygen and / or hydrogen obtained can be transported through a, in particular purified, gas or oil pipeline to a compression station, in particular located on land, and compressed in the compression station.

[0016] Advantageously, an electrolyzer with a power in the range of 100 to 500 MW of electrical power and / or hydrogen energy content of the production can be used for electrolysis.

[0017] Advantageously, solar cells arranged on and / or at the platform and / or floating and connected to the platform can be used to generate electricity to generate the electricity required for electrolysis.

[0018] Drinking water can advantageously be produced from purified water, whereby this is done by enriching purified water with salts, in particular from the brine or from salts obtained by means of the desalination plant 301.

[0019] Advantageously, floating solar cells connected to the platform can be used to generate electricity, and marine life, particularly fish, can be bred in enclosures beneath the floating solar cells. Advantageously, oxygen and / or fish feed produced on the platform can be added to the enclosures.

[0020] Advantageously, nitrogen can be extracted from the air on the platform and ammonia can be produced on the platform from the extracted nitrogen and from hydrogen produced on the platform by electrolysis.

[0021] Advantageously, fertilizer can be produced on the platform from the ammonia produced and from components of the brine obtained during desalination and / or from the algae obtained by filtration during water purification.

[0022] Advantageously, an electrolyzer with controlled ultrasound generation can be used for electrolysis to improve the efficiency of the electrolysis.

[0023] The electrolyzer can advantageously comprise at least one component, in particular an ultrasound generator. Advantageously, the electrolyzer, in particular the at least one component, can comprise a plurality of micro-electro-mechanical resonators (MEMS) with a plurality of different resonant frequencies.

[0024] Advantageously, the control can be carried out using a neural network.

[0025] Advantageously, sound, for example from a processing space and / or processing medium at resonance frequencies of one or more resonators of the electrolyzer, can be converted into electrical signals and, by means of the electrical signals, information about the detected sound can be transmitted to the neural network via at least one, in particular a plurality of, information line(s), in particular one information line per resonator and / or per resonance frequency.

[0026] Advantageously, the neural network can be coupled to the electrolyzer and, based on the information acquired by the electrolyzer, influence the behavior of the ultrasonic generator, in particular by controlling the ultrasonic generator. The action of the electrolyzer can also be supported by another agent, or only part of a agent can be controlled. Furthermore, the desired change may not be possible without another agent. Thus, electrolysis can be improved by the action of an ultrasonic generator, even if electrolysis would not be possible with ultrasound alone.

[0027] The processing medium can be, for example, the water of the body of water, for example in a container into which another current is metered or into which ultrasound is coupled.

[0028] Particularly advantageously, the system is configured and / or the method is controlled such that the neural network is used to influence sound generation, particularly in a predetermined frequency range, particularly across the predetermined frequency range, and / or averaged over time, to be minimized, maximized, or brought closer to a predetermined value. This allows particularly good results to be achieved in a simple manner. The amplitude of the oscillations of the MEMS resonators or the voltages they output, averaged and / or summed at a given point in time (across the resonators, but in particular not over time), can be used as a measure of sound generation.

[0029] The predetermined value can be fixed or dynamic, and can also be one- or multi-dimensional. For example, it could be an audio file played back by a sound generator, such as a loudspeaker. The neural network can then be configured to detect the difference between the audio file and influence the sound generator to minimize or at least reduce the deviation. This not only optimizes sound generation but also achieves active noise suppression.

[0030] Particularly advantageously, the system is configured and / or the method is conducted such that the electrolyzer comprises micro-electro-mechanical resonators with different spatial orientations and / or a plurality of micro-electro-mechanical resonators that are spatially spaced apart and / or arranged with different spatial orientations, wherein the electrolyzer in particular has and / or comprises a plurality of micro-electro-mechanical resonators for the same resonance frequencies. This allows for a particularly reliable and interference-resistant implementation, especially under inhomogeneous conditions in the processing space.

[0031] Particularly advantageously, the system is configured and / or the method is conducted such that each electrolyzer or each component of the electrolyzer has at least 100, in particular at least 10,000, resonators, in particular MEMS, and / or at least 10, in particular at least 100 resonators, in particular per spatial orientation, of which in particular at least three are present, of the resonators, with adjacent resonant frequencies, wherein the frequency spacing of the respective adjacent resonant frequencies is no more than 5 Hz, in particular no more than 1 Hz. This allows a particularly precise conversion to be generated in a very simple manner, since a large number of resonators can be arranged in a single chip.

[0032] Particularly advantageously, the system is set up and / or the method is carried out such that the neural network is a convolutional neural network (CNN), in particular with max-pooling layers, and / or has at least one intermediate layer and / or the input layer has a plurality of nodes, wherein each node is coupled to resonators of a resonant frequency, in particular only to resonators of a resonant frequency, in particular only to resonators of a resonant frequency and a spatial orientation and / or wherein a three-dimensional matrix is ​​generated from the outputs of the resonators, wherein the amplitudes are plotted on a two-dimensional plane and each point in the plane is assigned to one, in particular exactly one, resonator, wherein the CNN is in particular a U-Net or DEEPLabvß. This means that good results can also be achieved with known and / or simple networks.It is particularly advantageous if the system is configured and / or the process is conducted in such a way that the neural network has backpropagation and / or a target value. This type of configuration allows for a simple, good result to be achieved without training the network and even under changing environmental conditions and / or operating states.

[0033] Particularly advantageously, the system is set up and / or the method is carried out in such a way that the neural network has a plurality of layers, each of which at least partially has a plurality of nodes, and wherein the nodes of at least one layer with a plurality of nodes are processed in parallel.

[0034] Particularly advantageously, the system is configured and / or the method is conducted such that the electrolyzer is operated under a, in particular continuous and / or in particular cyclical, change of at least one parameter, in particular at least one frequency, amplitude, position, current, voltage, and / or rate of change and / or range of change of one or more of the aforementioned. This change can, in particular, be modulated onto the usual control or, in the case of a constantly changing control, such as the playback of an audio file of a piece of music, can already be provided by this control.

[0035] By doing this, the neural network can be constantly supplied with training data, local extremes can be avoided in favor of global ones, and a high level of control stability with minimal fluctuations around an optimal operating point can be achieved.

[0036] Particularly advantageously, the system is set up and / or the method is carried out in such a way that the influence on the behavior is and / or comprises a change in a center position, a change range and / or a change rate, in particular of the at least one, in particular at least two, particularly preferably at least three or exactly three, parameters. In this way, a very simple control can be achieved which can be implemented with a simple neural network with only three output variables. Particularly advantageously, the system is set up and / or the method is carried out in such a way that the electro-mechanical resonators are piezoelectric resonators. These are particularly easy to manufacture and sufficient for the purposes of the invention; their instability is largely compensated for by adapting the neural network.

[0037] It is particularly advantageous if the system is configured and / or the process is carried out in such a way that the MEMS resonators are designed as comb and / or ring structures. These structures have proven particularly efficient and are entirely sufficient for the application.

[0038] It is particularly advantageous if the system is set up and / or the method is carried out in such a way that the resonators, in particular based on an output voltage resulting from the piezoelectric properties of the respective piezoelectric resonator, each transmit information, in particular about the amplitude of the oscillation of the respective resonator, to the neural network, in particular continuously over time.

[0039] It is particularly advantageous if the system is configured and / or the method is conducted such that the resonance frequencies of the plurality of resonators are at least partly or exclusively in the range from 1 kHz to 1.0 GHz. These frequencies have proven particularly favorable for control by the neural network.

[0040] Further advantageous embodiments emerge by way of example from the following description of an embodiment with reference to the attached schematic flow diagram of Figure 1.

[0041] In the exemplary embodiment, a platform 100, for example, an oil rig, is arranged on a body of water 110, for example, a sea, in particular offshore. This may be an oil rig that was previously used for the extraction and production of fossil deposits in the Earth's crust, in particular oceanic ones, such as crude oil or natural gas. Among other things, the platform contains a water treatment plant 300 for producing purified water 310 and an electrolyzer 200 for electrolyzing the purified water 310 to thereby produce hydrogen 210 and oxygen 211.

[0042] The water treatment system 300 can comprise a desalination system 301, with which a brine 311 can be extracted from the water of the body of water. The chemical elements dissolved in the brine 311, for example, as a metal or mineral, can then be extracted from this brine 311 using known methods. Furthermore, the water treatment system 300 can comprise a filtration system 302, with which algae 312 present in the water of the body of water can be retained. The algae 312 can then be pressed into fish feed 410 using a fish feed pressing system 400.

[0043] Furthermore, electricity 510 can be generated by floating solar cells 500 connected to the platform 100, which can be used, in particular, to supply power to the electrolyzer 200. However, the solar cells 500 can also be arranged on and / or at the platform 100 or can be floating and connected to the platform 100.

[0044] Furthermore, an enclosure 600 for keeping fish 610 can be arranged below the solar cells 500, or at another location. The fish 610 can be fed using the obtained fish food 410. Furthermore, the oxygen 211 generated in the electrolysis can be used to aerate the water in the enclosure 600.

[0045] Furthermore, nitrogen 710 can be extracted from the air by means of a nitrogen generator 700, which can be arranged on the platform 100. Ammonia 810 can then be extracted from the extracted nitrogen 710 and the extracted hydrogen 210 by means of a Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis plant 800 arranged on the platform 100.

[0046] Furthermore, fertilizer 112 can be produced on the platform 100 from the ammonia 810 produced and from components of the brine 311 obtained during desalination and / or from the algae 312 obtained by filtration during water purification. Reference numerals:

[0047] 100th platform

[0048] 1 10. Waters

[0049] 1 1 1. Drinking water

[0050] 1 12. Fertilizer

[0051] 200 electrolyzer

[0052] 210. Hydrogen

[0053] 21 1 . Oxygen

[0054] 300. Water treatment

[0055] 310. purified water

[0056] 301. Desalination plant

[0057] 31 1 . Brine

[0058] 302. Filtration plant

[0059] 312. Algae

[0060] 400. Fish feed press plant

[0061] 410. Fish food

[0062] 500 solar cells

[0063] 510. Electricity

[0064] 600th enclosure

[0065] 610. Pisces

[0066] 700. Nitrogen generator

[0067] 710. Nitrogen

[0068] 800. Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis-

[0069] Attachment

[0070] 810. Ammonia

Claims

Claims 1. A method for producing hydrogen (210) and oxygen (211) by means of electrolysis, wherein the method is carried out by means of a platform (100) arranged on a body of water (110), in particular a ship or converted drilling platform, wherein purified water (310) is obtained on the platform (100) by purifying water of the body of water (110) and wherein hydrogen (210) and oxygen (211) are produced by means of electrolysis from the purified water (310) of the body of water (110).

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the body of water (110) is cleaned by means of filtration and wherein algae (312) are retained during the filtration and pressed into fish feed (410).

3. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the body of water (1 10) is a salty body of water, in particular salt water, and the purification of the water includes desalination (301 ) and wherein the brine (31 1) obtained during the desalination is used to extract minerals and / or metals, in particular containing elements of the light metals, in particular lithium, magnesium, scandium, rubidium, and / or elements of the boron group, in particular boron, gallium and / or indium, and / or elements of the vanadium group, in particular vanadium, and / or elements of the chromium group, in particular molybdenum, in particular in metallic and / or crystalline form.

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the platform (100) is a converted gas and / or oil production platform and / or wherein the oxygen (211) and / or the hydrogen (210) obtained is transported through a, in particular purified, gas or oil pipeline to a compression station, in particular located on land, and compressed in the compression station.

5. A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the electrolysis comprises a Electrolyser (200) with a power in the range of 100 to 500 MW electrical power and / or hydrogen energy content of the production is used.

6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein solar cells (500) arranged on and / or at the platform (100) and / or floating and connected to the platform (100) are used to generate electricity in order to generate electricity (510) required for the electrolysis.

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein drinking water (1 1 1) is produced from purified water (310), this being done by enriching purified water (310) with salts.

8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein floating solar cells (500) connected to the platform (100) are used to generate electricity and marine life (610), in particular fish, are bred in enclosures (600) under the floating solar cells (500).

9. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein oxygen (21 1 ) produced on the platform (100) and / or fish food (410) produced on the platform (100) is / are added to the enclosures (600).

10. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein nitrogen (710) is extracted from the air on the platform (100) and ammonia (810) is produced on the platform (100) from the extracted nitrogen (710) and from hydrogen (210) produced on the platform (100) by electrolysis, and in particular fertilizer (112) is produced on the platform from the produced ammonia (810) and from components of the brine (311) obtained during desalination and / or from the algae (312) obtained by filtration during water purification. 1 1. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein an electrolyzer (200) with controlled ultrasound generation is used for the electrolysis to improve the efficiency of the electrolysis.

12. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein the control is carried out by means of a neural network.

13. System for the production of hydrogen (210) and oxygen (210) and in particular minerals (311), metals (311), fertilizers (112), drinking water (111) and / or marine life (610), in particular fish, wherein the system is a platform (100) arranged and / or arrangeable on a body of water (110), in particular a ship or converted drilling platform, wherein the platform (100) is in particular either a floating platform (100) or has means for mounting on the seabed.

14. System according to the preceding claim comprising at least one electrolyzer (200), a water treatment plant (300), in particular comprising a desalination plant (301) and / or a filtration plant (302), a fish feed pressing plant (400), a plant for extracting metals and / or salts, in particular comprising minerals, from a brine, solar cells (500), in particular floating ones, an enclosure (600) for marine life (6010), a Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis plant (800), a nitrogen generator (700), an air liquefaction plant, a compressor for compressing oxygen and / or hydrogen.

15. Use of a gas or oil pipeline for the transport of hydrogen and / or oxygen produced on a body of water to land, whereby the hydrogen and / or oxygen is compressed and / or recompressed on land.

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