Hydrogen compressors for refuelling applications

Hydrogen refuelling stations typically take gas hydrogen from a source, whether that is an electrolyser at low pressure (typically around 30 bar), pipeline at low to medium pressure (typically 50-80 bar) or supplied by a compressed hydrogen delivery asset at medium to high pressure (typically 200 bar to 500 bar).

In all cases, the hydrogen usually needs to be compressed further to the required pressure, ready for refuelling, and held in local storage units. The lower the supply pressure, the greater the requirement on the compression to boost the pressure up to the required refuelling pressure.

This is where Haskel's world-leading compression technology comes in.

There are two main pressures that that are most common in the industry, 350 bar and 700 bar. The 700 bar refuelling applications require a higher pressure dispensing because these vehicles only feature a finite space for fuel storage. The more gas you can put into the vehicles’ onboard storage system, the greater range the vehicle will have.

350 bar pressure is typically used for heavy duty vehicles and 700 bar for lighter vehicles. Over time we expect heavy duty vehicles to move into the 700 bar category to give those vehicles a greater range.

The gas compression element of a refuelling station is integral in allowing you to achieve the refuelling pressures at those higher levels.

Read more in our blog - Hydrogen refuelling stations and the role of gas compression technology | Haskel

The quality of hydrogen fuel, used in hydrogen powered cars, trucks, buses and other hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, is critical for proper operation of the fuel cells. Contaminants originating in the hydrogen supply can damage fuel cells, therefore it is critical that purity is effectively managed during the hydrogen refuelling processes to reduce the risk.

Haskel’s full range of hydrogen compressors are designed specifically to prevent any cross contamination of the gas to ensure that gas purity is maintained throughout the refuelling process.

Read more in our blog - Maintaining hydrogen gas purity for hydrogen refuelling using a hydraulic compressor | Haskel

As the leading experts in the field, Haskel hydrogen gas compressors are uniquely engineered with specific materials designed for hydrogen use. They are based on pressure and flow requirements to address issues related to exposure in hydrogen environments.

Through our proven expertise in hydrogen compression, we know how to reliably address embrittlement issues that metals face when exposed to a hydrogen environment. It’s also how we know that embrittlement can be aggravated by high-pressure and hydrogen purity, leading to loss of ductility, and component failure at much lower stress levels than would normally be expected.