Hydrogen Energy Analysis Solutions for Quality Control of Hydrogen

The Coming Hydrogen Energy Society

Fuel cells for domestic use and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) are gradually becoming more common. Fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen, and are indispensable when it comes to realizing a hydrogen energy society.

Hydrogen is now used in some familiar objects. Hydrogen can be produced by various industrial processes, and its conversion with electrical power is easy. Therefore, its use as a fuel for thermal electrical power generation and for storage of natural energy such as solar and wind is being evaluated.

Continuous technological advances mean that realization of a hydrogen energy society, one that powers vehicles and electricity using fuel cells, with low environmental impact is approaching.

Analysis of Impurities in Hydrogen

Impurities in hydrogen production affect subsequent industrial processes. Strict purity standards have been defined for hydrogen used in fuel cells (ISO 14687-2019). This is because if hydrogen contains carbon monoxide, sulfur components, etc., the catalyst of the fuel cell will be damaged. The hydrogen fuel standard for FCVs (ISO 14687 TypeII GradeD) defines many items to be controlled, and Shimadzu analytical instruments can play a role in analyzing these items.

Table 1: ISO 14687-2019 Analysis Systems

ISO14687-2019 compliant …                

Less than ISO 14687 -2019 standard but measurable …                

Click  ✓ to read the applications.

Hydrogen Quality Control Using LabSolutions

To satisfy all the hydrogen quality control items defined by ISO14687-2019, it is necessary to conduct an analysis using several different systems. With the Shimadzu integrated workstation, LabSolutions LC/GC, supports multiple analysis systems, enabling different instrument data to be analyzed with one workstation, LabSolutions CS, all analysis data is managed in a database on the server computer, and you can import data from any computer on the network.

Strength Testing in a Hydrogen Environment

Due to its exposure to high-pressure hydrogen gas environments, the metal in hydrogen gas tubing must be resistant to hydrogen embrittlement. Therefore, to evaluate hydrogen brittleness, a tensile testing system was designed to test tensile strength at extremely slow speeds in a hydrogen gas environment.