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ATR Hydrogen (Grey/Blue)

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.

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alexi

I do low-carbon energy stuff for 10 years & build things I wish existed.

11

Inputs

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.

ratio

Economic project life for capital recovery factor (CRF).

years

Grid or contracted electricity price for auxiliary loads.

EUR/MWh

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.

EUR/MWh_LHV

Costs

Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH)

Total annual cost / annual H2

…EUR/kgH2
Capex evolution

Log in to view this sensitivity chart.

Total installed CAPEX (screening)

Scaled specific CAPEX (EUR per kg/day) × capacity (kg/day)

…EUR

CAPEX — Reformer & main process

Fraction of total CAPEX for reformer & main process

…EUR

CAPEX — Other (utilities, balance of plant)

Fraction of total CAPEX for other plant systems

…EUR

CAPEX — CCS (capture, compression, T&S interface)

Fraction of total CAPEX for CCS block

…EUR

Feedstock vs. Production

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)

…MWh_LHV/year

Annual hydrogen production

Nameplate capacity × load hours

…kgH2/year

Annual electricity consumption

Auxiliary power (kWh/kgH2) × annual H2 (with part-load penalty)

…MWh/year

Annual CO2 emitted (residual)

Generated CO2 × (1 − capture rate)

…tCO2/year

About

Calculator context

Introduction

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).

Methodology

Key calculations are separated into energy/mass balance and costing blocks.

  • Load hours: load_hours = hours_per_year * capacity_factor
  • Part-load penalty: load_penalty = clamp(1 + penalty_coeff*(1 - capacity_factor), 1.0, max_penalty)
  • Effective fuel use: effective_consumption = specific_consumption * load_penalty
  • Annual H2 production: annual_h2_production_kg = h2_capacity_kg_per_h * load_hours
  • Annual natural gas energy: annual_ng_energy_mwh = effective_consumption * annual_h2_production_kg
  • Annual electricity: annual_electricity_mwh = (specific_electricity_kwh_per_kg * load_penalty * annual_h2_production_kg) / kwh_per_mwh
  • CO2 (screening factor approach): annual_co2_generated_t = (co2_per_kg_h2 * annual_h2_production_kg) / kg_per_tonne; captured/emitted split uses a technology capture_rate (0 for gray, high for blue).

Costing follows standard annualization and scaling:

  • CRF: CRF = (r*(1+r)^n)/((1+r)^n-1) (with numeric guard)
  • Specific CAPEX scaling: specific_capex_scaled = clamp(specific_capex_ref*(capacity/capacity_ref)^capex_scale_exp, min, max)
  • Fixed O&M scaling: om_fraction_scaled = clamp(om_fraction_ref*(capacity/capacity_ref)^om_scale_exp, min, max)
  • Annualized CAPEX: annualized_capex = capex_total * CRF
  • Total annual cost: annualized_capex + fixed_om + fuel + power + CO2 transport/storage (if CCS)
  • LCOH: lcoh = total_annual_cost / annual_h2_production_kg

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.

Applications

  • Project developer (screening): compare gray ATR vs ATR+CCS LCOH sensitivity to natural gas price and capacity factor before starting a full FEED.
  • Corporate strategy / BD: sanity-check whether a proposed blue hydrogen concept is cost-competitive under a target gas price and financing terms.
  • Policy/market analyst: estimate indicative residual CO2 intensity (kgCO2/kgH2) for hydrogen portfolio comparisons under simple capture-rate assumptions.

Model

67 variables — inputs, calculations and outputs, with their dependencies.

67 variables shown of 67
VariableValueUnitDepends on
2——
2000kgH2/h—
96%—
25EUR/MWh_LHV—
60EUR/MWh—
0.08ratio—
20years—
VariableFormulaUnitDepends on
if(((<=0)+((*0.01)<0)+((*0.01)>1)+(<0)+(<0)+(<0)+(<=0)+(<)+(>))>0,1,0)bool
*(*0.01)h/year
clamp(1+*(1-(*0.01)),1.0,)—
if(==1,,)MWh_LHV/kgH2
*MWh_LHV/kgH2
if(==1,,)kWh/kgH2
(*)/max(,)tCO2/year
if(==1,,)—
*tCO2/year
*kgH2/day
/max(,)—
if(==1,,)EUR/(kgH2/day)
clamp(*(^),,)EUR/(kgH2/day)
if(==1,,)—
clamp(*(^),,)—
*EUR/year
(*(1+)^)/max(((1+)^-1),)—
*EUR/year
(*)+(*)+(*)EUR/year
VariableFormulaUnitDepends on
*kgH2/year
*MWh_LHV/year
(**)/max(,)MWh/year
*(1-)tCO2/year
*EUR
*EUR
*EUR
*EUR
++EUR/year
/max(,)EUR/kgH2

Assumptions

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)

    0.000001
    Model numeric stability parameter (OpenJack DSL requirement).

  • Used to convert capacity factor to annual operating hours.

    Market range 8760 (non-leap year), 8784 (leap year)

    8760h/year
    Calendar year convention.

  • Converts kg/h nameplate to kg/day for CAPEX scaling basis.

    Market range 24

    24h/day
    Time conversion.

  • Converts kWh to MWh for electricity totals.

    Market range 1000

    1000kWh/MWh
    Unit conversion.

  • Converts kg to metric tonnes for CO2 reporting.

    Market range 1000

    1000kg/t
    Unit conversion.

  • Represents increased specific energy consumption at lower capacity factor due to turndown and fixed parasitics.

    Market range 0.05 to 0.25

    0.15
    Screening assumption for part-load efficiency degradation.

  • Prevents overly large effective consumption increases at very low utilization.

    Market range 1.1 to 1.5

    1.25
    Screening clamp on part-load penalty.

  • 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

    0.05MWh_LHV/kgH2
    Indicative ATR natural gas energy intensity (feed + fuel).

  • Adds an energy penalty for capture/compression and integration relative to gray ATR.

    Market range 0.048 to 0.065

    0.053MWh_LHV/kgH2
    Indicative ATR+CCS natural gas energy intensity.

  • Represents pumps, blowers, controls; excludes exported power credits (not modeled).

    Market range 0.5 to 3.0

    1.5kWh/kgH2
    Indicative auxiliary electricity for gray ATR.

  • Higher electricity due to CO2 compression and additional balance-of-plant.

    Market range 1.0 to 6.0

    2.5kWh/kgH2
    Indicative auxiliary electricity for ATR+CCS.

  • 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

    9kgCO2/kgH2
    Indicative gross CO2 generation factor for ATR.

  • No CO2 capture applied.

    Market range 0.0

    0
    Definition of gray case (no CCS).

  • 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

    0.9
    Indicative capture rate for blue ATR+CCS.

  • Captures order-of-magnitude cost for pipeline transport + geological storage, excluding capture CAPEX (handled implicitly in ATR+CCS CAPEX).

    Market range 5 to 30

    15EUR/tCO2
    Indicative CO2 transport and storage (T&S) cost for screening.

  • Scaling reference corresponding to ~1000 kgH2/h nameplate (a convenient mid-scale anchor).

    Market range 5000 to 100000

    24000kgH2/day
    Reference plant size for scaling (screening).

  • Reflects decreasing unit CAPEX with increasing plant size in process plants at screening level.

    Market range -0.3 to 0.0

    -0.2
    Economy-of-scale exponent for specific CAPEX.

  • Prevents unrealistically low CAPEX when scaling to very large capacities.

    Market range 400 to 900

    600EUR/(kgH2/day)
    Lower clamp bound for scaled specific CAPEX.

  • Prevents unrealistically high CAPEX when scaling down to very small capacities.

    Market range 1500 to 4000

    2500EUR/(kgH2/day)
    Upper clamp bound for scaled specific CAPEX.

  • Represents installed CAPEX intensity used for early screening; should be replaced with NETL ATR cost intensity if extracted.

    Market range 700 to 1800

    1100EUR/(kgH2/day)
    Indicative gray ATR specific CAPEX at reference scale.

  • Represents CAPEX intensity including capture/compression and additional balance-of-plant.

    Market range 1000 to 2600

    1450EUR/(kgH2/day)
    Indicative ATR+CCS specific CAPEX at reference scale.

  • Allows modest reduction in fixed O&M fraction with increasing plant size.

    Market range -0.15 to 0.05

    -0.05
    Scaling exponent for fixed O&M fraction.

  • Prevents fixed O&M dropping unrealistically low at large scale.

    Market range 0.01 to 0.03

    0.02
    Lower clamp for fixed O&M fraction.

  • Prevents fixed O&M becoming unrealistically high at very small scale.

    Market range 0.04 to 0.12

    0.06
    Upper clamp for fixed O&M fraction.

  • Represents fixed operating costs as a fraction of installed CAPEX at reference scale.

    Market range 0.02 to 0.06

    0.04
    Indicative fixed O&M fraction for gray ATR.

  • Slightly higher fixed O&M due to additional capture/compression systems.

    Market range 0.03 to 0.08

    0.045
    Indicative fixed O&M fraction for ATR+CCS.

  • Ensures atr_config stays within implemented options.

    Market range 1

    1
    UI/validation constant.

  • Ensures atr_config stays within implemented options.

    Market range 2

    2
    UI/validation constant.

  • Fraction of total CAPEX attributed to reformer and main process block.

    Market range 0.4 to 0.6

    0.5
    Screening split for main asset CAPEX.

  • Fraction of total CAPEX attributed to CCS (capture, compression, T&S interface).

    Market range 0.2 to 0.4

    0.3
    Screening split for main asset CAPEX.

  • Fraction of total CAPEX attributed to utilities, balance of plant, and other systems.

    Market range 0.1 to 0.3

    0.2
    Screening split for main asset CAPEX.

Sources

1 external source