Hydrogen – The Energy Revolution
With our two locations in Beierfeld and Wesel, we are in the immediate vicinity of the two hydrogen competence centres in Chemnitz and Duisburg and are in close contact with customers from the hydrogen industry.
For several years, our instruments have been installed in hydrogen research projects – such as the Hydrogen Testfield of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Center (ZBT GmbH). This allowed us to gain experience with various hydrogen processes at an early stage.
Selected products
for the use in hydrogen applications
Application fields
► Research & development of components for hydrogen technology
► Generation – electrolysers
► Transport – pressure monitoring
► Storage – hydrogen compressor system
► Distribution – storage tanks
► Utilisation – fuel cells, gas engines, natural gas admixtures
Application Example
Hydrogen compression
Hydrogen can be produced and stored with the help of an electrolyser.
In order to make the storage more efficient, it is compressed using hydrogen compressor systems. The materials used for this and also the measurement technology must therefore meet the high requirements of hydrogen under high pressure.
Hydrogen – The Requirements
Both atoms of the hydrogen molecule are very small. Due to this, the hydrogen molecule is able to penetrate solid materials, also called permeation. The hydrogen molecules permeate the lattice structure of the material, increase the internal pressure at atomic level and thus gradually change the material properties, unfortunately for the worse. This is referred to as hydrogen embrittlement of the material.
By selecting a suitable material for all surfaces in contact with the medium, the effects of this problem can be minimised. Hydrogen applications are often safety-relevant systems that require high standards in terms of leak tightness and explosion protection.