The project "Hydrogen separation/extraction from a recycling waste", delivered for Powerhouse Energy Plc in 2024, addressed a practical process and manufacturing challenge through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and process modelling. Rather than producing simulation images in isolation, the study was organised around the client's design questions: what controlled performance, where the principal risks or losses occurred, and how the design or operating strategy could be improved.

Building on our earlier work with Powerhouse’s Thermal Conversion Chamber (TCC), we supported the company in designing a hydrogen recovery plant to utilise syngas produced from their gasifier. The aim of this project was to create an efficient process for separating hydrogen while minimising CO₂ emissions and energy losses. Our team carried out full process modelling in Aspen Plus, implementing a calcium looping scheme in which carbonation captured CO₂ as CaCO₃, and calcination regenerated CaO, releasing a high-purity CO₂ stream. This looping system was tightly integrated with heat recovery, allowing excess energy from exothermic reactions to drive steam generation and support overall plant efficiency. Downstream of this, we designed a multi-stage pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit to purify hydrogen to high specifications.

The methodology used a steady-state Aspen Plus process model rather than a stand-alone CFD domain. Mass and energy balances were developed for syngas conditioning, calcium looping, carbonation, calcination, heat recovery, steam generation and the downstream pressure-swing-adsorption train. Thermodynamic methods and unit-operation assumptions were selected to represent the expected gas composition and temperature range. The model was organised so that carbon capture, sorbent regeneration, heat integration and hydrogen purification could be assessed as one connected process rather than as isolated equipment items.

The assessment compared calcium-looping conditions, heat-integration arrangements, steam generation and the number and operation of PSA stages. Performance was judged using hydrogen recovery and purity, carbon-dioxide capture, heat duty, steam generation, energy consumption, sorbent circulation and the overall mass and energy balance. Results were reviewed through quantitative summaries and engineering visualisations, such as contours, vectors, streamlines, sections and time histories, selected to suit the physics. Important assumptions and operating uncertainties were considered so that the recommendations relied on repeatable comparative trends rather than a single nominal case.

For Powerhouse Energy Plc, the principal value was an integrated process concept for producing high-specification hydrogen from gasifier syngas while reducing emissions and avoidable energy loss. The final evidence linked each recommendation to the relevant model or process output, making it suitable for internal design reviews, supplier or contractor discussions and, where applicable, planning, safety or regulatory dialogue. The work also created a reusable baseline that can be updated as geometry, operating data or test results become available, reducing the cost and risk of later design iterations.

A disciplined quality-control workflow supported the analysis. Geometry, units, mass and energy balances, boundary-condition consistency and solver convergence were checked before options were ranked. Mesh or parameter sensitivities were used where they were most likely to affect the engineering conclusion, and limitations were documented explicitly. This ensured that the study remained traceable and reproducible rather than relying on isolated simulation images.