HyET Hydrogen’s Electrochemical Compression and Purification Technology
Within the Hy2Market project, HyET Hydrogen is advancing innovative solutions for one of the key challenges in the hydrogen value chain: efficiently preparing hydrogen for transport, storage, and end-use applications.
Hydrogen produced through electrolysis or as an industrial by-product often needs to be compressed and purified before it can be transported through pipelines, stored in tube trailers, or used in industrial processes and mobility applications. Conventional mechanical compressors can require multiple stages to achieve the desired pressure levels, resulting in increased complexity, energy consumption, system and maintenance costs. Additional equipment is required when high hydrogen purity levels specified by the end user and traditional technologies are used. In theseoccasions, Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) is usually the preferred technique.
With the aim of reducing the costs of hydrogen delivered, HyET Hydrogen is developing and scaling its Electrochemical Hydrogen Compression and Purification (EHCP) technology. This technology uses electricity and proton exchange membranes (PEM) to split hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons. The protons pass through the membrane and recombine on the other side, where the hydrogen pressure is built up. Simultaneously, when some impurities in the gas are present, the H2 is purified, leaving these other components behind, on the other side of those membranes. As a result, compression and purification can be achieved in a single step, in a single device. This eliminates the need for a traditional configuration where a PSA and a mechanical compressor are placed in series in order to achieve a similar outcome.
In Hy2Market, HyET Hydrogen is assessing how this technology can support real hydrogen infrastructure developments across different European regions. By analyzing operational requirements and testing system performance, the project evaluates how HyET’s electrochemical compression can be applied in practical use cases such as hydrogen hubs, industrial supply systems, and electrolysis-based hydrogen production sites.
These studies contribute to HyET Hydrogen’s ongoing technology scale-up, helping validate the robustness of the system under different operating conditions and informing potential deployment pathways in hydrogen infrastructure projects.
The results of the tests provide HyET with valuable information to support a techno-economic analysis of the technology for each of the use cases provided by the Hy2Market partners. This analysis is intended to serve as a reference for each partner, offering an overall assessment of the technology’s cost-effectiveness at the commercial stage compared with the benchmark of mechanical compressors currently available on the market. The insights generated within Hy2Market will support the integration of electrochemical compression and purification solutions in future hydrogen production sites, transport systems, and industrial supply chains across Europe.
Through this work, HyET Hydrogen is contributing to Hy2Market’s broader objective of developing efficient, scalable hydrogen transport solutions and strengthening integrated hydrogen value chains across Europe.
HyET Hydrogen’s HCS500 Hydrogen Compressor Stack:
Image Source: © HyET Hydrogen B.V.