Hydrogen Fuel Purity Testing
Background
New zero emission cars equipped with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell are powered by hydrogen fuel. These fuel cells require a hydrogen quality that can be achieved using modern hydrogen purification technologies e.g.: pressure swing adsorption or selective diffusion through a palladium alloy membrane. Using hydrogen that contains impurities can cause damaged fuel cells after a relatively short time.
To counter this, guidelines for appropriate hydrogen purity have been laid out in International Standard ISO 14687-2, which outlines the maximum allowable impurity levels for compounds like H2O, O2, He, N2, Ar, CO, CO2, TS, THC, HCHO, HCOOH, NH3, HBr, HCl and Cl2. EU directive 2014/94/EU also states that all refueling stations must comply with these thresholds.
Solution
The CombiSense mass spectrometer by V&F is the analyzer that can perform an analysis of all impurities within the ISO 14687-2 standard.
This enables the hydrogen manufactures to supply hydrogen along with a quality certificate of analysis that proves that the fuel going into cars will be of sufficient quality.
Advantage
V&F online mass spectrometers deliver results very fast compared to technologies such as Gas Chromatography based instrumentation. A CombiSense measures the complete set of impurities using a single setup within a few minutes.
The operator needs only one single instrument, compared to several needed instruments mentioned within the ISO standard like GS-MS, FTIR, FID, IC, etc.
Highlights
- One single analyzer for hydrogen fuel purity testing
- Compliant with ISO 14687-2 specification
- Fully automated analysis with generation of CoA and CoC
Reference customers (excerpt)
Applicable instruments
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