4. Conclusion

Until 2010, the hydrogen liquefaction process was reserved for a niche market involving space programs and industrial customers requiring a high-purity product or backup storage. The design of the process was adapted to this particular need: production capacity of a few tonnes per day and infrequent projects.

However, short-term growth in the liquid hydrogen market is expected to be 5.66% per year from 2022 to 2026. To meet this level of demand, the cost of hydrogen liquefaction and the entire value chain will have to come down. Analyses of the ways in which this cost reduction can be achieved focus mainly on increasing the capacity of liquefaction units. At this stage, it is not yet known whether increasing the capacity of liquid hydrogen production units beyond 100 t/d would lead to further reductions in liquefaction unit costs. Indeed, the modularization of unit...