Recently, hydrogen has become a hot topic. Besides traditional applications, we see more and more applications in the renewable energy sector. Critically, flow meters play an important role in hydrogen production since reliable and precise flow measurements are essential to most processes. For many years now, we have been supplying flow meters to HyGear in Arnhem (NL), which are in use in steam methane reforming units.
Speaking with Ellart de Wit, CTO of HyGear, we learn more about this interesting market. We discover the steam methane reforming units HyGear develops and the role that our flow meters play in this process.
HyGear is essentially a company that builds chemical installations, with the focus on hydrogen, says de Wit. That’s how we started out in 2002. At that time, hydrogen was seen as a highly promising option for car fuel. So, we took advantage of this idea. Hydrogen has many positive properties, but transporting it can be tricky. After all, the gas is very light, and it won’t liquefy easily under pressure.
So, the challenge is to limit transportation as much as possible. This can be done by producing the gas locally, when possible. In the early years, we achieved this by supplying turnkey systems to our customers. In doing so, this allows them to produce hydrogen themselves. More recently, we are positioning ourselves more as a true gas supplier. Essentially, this means that customers buy hydrogen per kilogram on a gas-as-service basis. We also accompany this with an entire service package.
The majority of HyGear customers operate in the traditional industry sector:
In all these cases, hydrogen must be very clean and without any impurities.
HyGear is seeing an increasing demand for hydrogen in various areas. Traditional industry, for example, requires ever more high-quality hydrogen. In addition, there’s a growing number of sustainable energy solutions involving hydrogen, such as powering fuel cells for cars.
Hydrogen is also increasingly useful in new areas such as inland areas, far from the coast. These areas are far from chemical clusters where hydrogen releases as a residual product.
At the moment, HyGear still sees several challenges when it comes to powering cars with hydrogen. Industrial processes have a fairly regular and even gas consumption. But powering hydrogen vehicles is trickier as it involves very high pressures and flow rates in a short period. This is especially true at the start, after which it slows down more and more. The quantity of hydrogen in the tank needs to be constant and precise monitoring, so that the customer pays the right price at the fuel pump.
One of HyGear’s solutions for producing hydrogen locally is by means of portable steam methane reforming units. In steam methane reforming, methane (from natural gas) reacts at high pressure and temperature with steam. The reaction forms a mix of mainly hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This can make the necessary hydrogen by means of pressure swing adsorption (PSA).
The good thing about this method of local hydrogen production is that there are natural gas pipelines all over the world. Because of this, it’s cheap to transport the raw material. For example, you can use natural gas, biogas, or green gas, with or without CO2 capture. So customers can decide whether they want grey, blue, or green hydrogen.
The outstanding feature of these steam methane reforming units is that all modules for the cracking installation, steam forming, and purification steps are all integrated. In doing so, hydrogen production can continue to function without external intervention. This applies when starting units up and also when keeping them running.
Furthermore, the system doesn’t need an operator as it is fully self-managing, and it can switch quickly. These systems work just like a tube trailer with hydrogen cylinders, where all you need to do is open the tap to supply hydrogen. In a fast-changing world with ever shorter supply contracts, a relocatable stationary system provides the right degree of flexibility.
Ever since HyGear began developing these units, they have been using flow meters from Bronkhorst. These flow meters are useful at two critical points in the process. First, when methane reacts with steam, HyGear needs to know how much of each component we are adding. They use Bronkhorst thermal mass flow controllers for methane flow measurement, with a flow range of 500 liters of methane per minute.
However, HyGear handles things differently with steam. At the outlet of the system, they measure the hydrogen output quantity. For this second measurement step, they use Bronkhorst thermal mass flow meters with a flow range of 90 to 250 Nm3 hydrogen per hour. Since the system is installed locally and possibly in a very remote location, it’s important that the flow meters and flow controllers are reliable. HyGear must rely on the measured value. When it comes to measurement, it’s important to be both reliable and precise since the customer ultimately has to pay the bill based on the quantity of supplied hydrogen.
We regularly supply flow meters and vapor generation systems for a range of processes in the hydrogen sector. These include flow solutions for humidification of fuel cells, leak testing of fuel cell stacks, power-to-gas applications, hydrogen storage in the metal hydride, and hydrogen storage with liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC).
Bronkhorst thermal mass flow meters and CEM vapor generation systems are used widely in all these areas. Our Vapor Generation System is an advanced alternative to traditional glass bubblers that improves process accuracy and repeatability. With an all in one design and a user-friendly touchscreen interface, users have unprecedented control over their vapor generation processes. It’s ideal for low flow applications such as use in research laboratories, deposition processes such as coatings, CVD, semiconductor manufacturing, and more.
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