energy_mass_balancecostinghydrogen
ATR hydrogen calculator estimating annual production, fuel/electricity use, CO2 (with/without CCS), and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) using a simple scaling CAPEX + CRF cost model.
Select gray ATR (no CO2 capture) or blue ATR+CCS (with capture rate and CO2 transport/storage cost).
Real discount rate used for CRF annualization.
Economic project life for capital recovery factor (CRF).
Grid or contracted electricity price for auxiliary loads.
Full-load hydrogen production rate at design conditions (screening nameplate).
min 1 · max 5000 · step 10 · kgH2/h
Delivered natural gas energy price on LHV basis.
Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH)
Total annual cost / annual H2
Sign in to view this sensitivity chart.
Total installed CAPEX (screening)
Scaled specific CAPEX (EUR per kg/day) × capacity (kg/day)
CAPEX — Reformer & main process
Fraction of total CAPEX for reformer & main process
CAPEX — Other (utilities, balance of plant)
Fraction of total CAPEX for other plant systems
CAPEX — CCS (capture, compression, T&S interface)
Fraction of total CAPEX for CCS block
Average utilization over the year. Used to compute load hours and apply a part-load penalty to specific consumptions.
min 30 · max 98 · step 1 · %
Annual natural gas energy input
Specific NG (MWh/kgH2) × annual H2 (with part-load penalty)
Annual hydrogen production
Nameplate capacity × load hours
Annual electricity consumption
Auxiliary power (kWh/kgH2) × annual H2 (with part-load penalty)
Annual CO2 emitted (residual)
Generated CO2 × (1 − capture rate)
Calculator context
This calculator provides a screening-stage estimate of autothermal reforming (ATR) hydrogen production performance and cost, including annual H2 output, natural gas and electricity use, CO2 emissions/capture, CAPEX, total annual cost, and LCOH. It is designed to be consistent in structure with public techno-economic reporting such as the US DOE/NETL hydrogen production technology comparisons (NETL report referenced in the request), while remaining simple enough for early business development.
The methodology uses a capacity-factor penalty on specific consumptions, annualization via a capital recovery factor (CRF), and a scaled specific CAPEX + scaled fixed O&M fraction approach commonly used in early-phase benchmarking (IRENA/IEA/NREL-style screening methods).
Key calculations are separated into energy/mass balance and costing blocks.
Costing follows standard annualization and scaling:
Sources to validate/replace constants: NETL (DOE) technology comparison report (requested), plus cross-check ranges from IEA, IRENA, and NREL/DOE public H2 cost/efficiency summaries.
31 assumptions used in the calculations
Prevents division-by-zero and ensures stable CRF and ratio calculations under extreme inputs.
Market range 1e-9 to 1e-6 (typical numeric guards)
Used to convert capacity factor to annual operating hours.
Market range 8760 (non-leap year), 8784 (leap year)
Converts kg/h nameplate to kg/day for CAPEX scaling basis.
Market range 24
Converts kWh to MWh for electricity totals.
Market range 1000
Converts kg to metric tonnes for CO2 reporting.
Market range 1000
Represents increased specific energy consumption at lower capacity factor due to turndown and fixed parasitics.
Market range 0.05 to 0.25
Prevents overly large effective consumption increases at very low utilization.
Market range 1.1 to 1.5
Represents total NG LHV energy required per kg H2 at high load; should be replaced with NETL ATR case value if extracted.
Market range 0.045 to 0.06
Adds an energy penalty for capture/compression and integration relative to gray ATR.
Market range 0.048 to 0.065
Represents pumps, blowers, controls; excludes exported power credits (not modeled).
Market range 0.5 to 3.0
Higher electricity due to CO2 compression and additional balance-of-plant.
Market range 1.0 to 6.0
Represents total process CO2 generated prior to capture; used to compute captured and residual emissions by applying capture rate.
Market range 8.0 to 12.0
No CO2 capture applied.
Market range 0.0
Represents high capture designs frequently reported for blue hydrogen concepts; should be replaced with the NETL case capture fraction if available.
Market range 0.85 to 0.97
Captures order-of-magnitude cost for pipeline transport + geological storage, excluding capture CAPEX (handled implicitly in ATR+CCS CAPEX).
Market range 5 to 30
Scaling reference corresponding to ~1000 kgH2/h nameplate (a convenient mid-scale anchor).
Market range 5000 to 100000
Reflects decreasing unit CAPEX with increasing plant size in process plants at screening level.
Market range -0.3 to 0.0
Prevents unrealistically low CAPEX when scaling to very large capacities.
Market range 400 to 900
Prevents unrealistically high CAPEX when scaling down to very small capacities.
Market range 1500 to 4000
Represents installed CAPEX intensity used for early screening; should be replaced with NETL ATR cost intensity if extracted.
Market range 700 to 1800
Represents CAPEX intensity including capture/compression and additional balance-of-plant.
Market range 1000 to 2600
Allows modest reduction in fixed O&M fraction with increasing plant size.
Market range -0.15 to 0.05
Prevents fixed O&M dropping unrealistically low at large scale.
Market range 0.01 to 0.03
Prevents fixed O&M becoming unrealistically high at very small scale.
Market range 0.04 to 0.12
Represents fixed operating costs as a fraction of installed CAPEX at reference scale.
Market range 0.02 to 0.06
Slightly higher fixed O&M due to additional capture/compression systems.
Market range 0.03 to 0.08
Ensures atr_config stays within implemented options.
Market range 1
Ensures atr_config stays within implemented options.
Market range 2
Fraction of total CAPEX attributed to reformer and main process block.
Market range 0.4 to 0.6
Fraction of total CAPEX attributed to CCS (capture, compression, T&S interface).
Market range 0.2 to 0.4
Fraction of total CAPEX attributed to utilities, balance of plant, and other systems.
Market range 0.1 to 0.3
