Hydrogen purification and drying for high-purity H2

Hydrogen used as an energy storage or transportation medium or in a production or manufacturing process requires high purity for various safety and quality reasons.

The standard established in the industrial gas sector is a purity of > 99.999 %, which corresponds to quality 5.0.

The following problems can arise due to impurities:

• Moisture can lead to corrosion of pipes, tanks, and instruments. As hydrogen is invisible and does not smell but is extremely flammable and explosive, any hydrogen leak caused by corrosion can be very dangerous.
• Potential leaks can block the entire infrastructure if the water vapor liquefies or even freezes.
• Moisture can lead to undesirable production results.
• Residual oxygen can produce undesirable production results. One example is the production of flat glass using hydrogen. Here, the glass would oxidize with the residual oxygen and become opaque.
• Carbon monoxide, a typical impurity of gray hydrogen, is a catalyst poison. This underscores the importance of removing CO when hydrogen is intended for use in a fuel cell.

Various chemical and mechanical processes are combined to achieve a purity of > 99.999 % or quality 5.0. Usually, more than a single process is required to produce the desired quality.
Depending on the operating parameters, ReiCat Catalyst Technology and TSA (Temperature Swing Adsorption) dryers are typically combined with other chemical and mechanical processes.

We often use gas-gas heat exchangers, as catalytic purification requires high temperatures. The gas-gas heat exchangers reduce energy costs through heat recovery (recuperation). Our proven modular system guarantees individual, cost-effective and high-quality solutions.

Our ReiCat Closed Loop Technology can optionally be added to any system. It ensures that our H2 purification systems operate with up to 0% losses and emissions.

With our ReiCat HighFlex H2® Technology, the purification system can adeptly handle fluctuating volume flows when purifying hydrogen from Power-to-X systems. This adaptability ensures a consistent purification performance.

Based on over 40 years of experience, we guarantee maximum availability and the most efficient purification performance. In 2005, we commissioned one of the largest hydrogen purification plants in Europe to purify H2 from chlor-alkali electrolysis. It has been running reliably ever since.

Our proprietary HighFlex H2® Technology guarantees consistent 5.0 gas quality when purifying hydrogen from Power-to-X plants, even with fluctuating volume flows.

ReiCat’s proprietary Closed Loop Technology ensures that our H2 purification systems operate with up to 0% losses and emissions.

1. Remote monitoring: We offer a remote monitoring and maintenance service for high-availability systems to prevent unforeseen but avoidable downtimes.
2. Maintenance: We offer regular on-site maintenance of your system. This maintenance is carried out by qualified specialists who became familiar with your system during the project planning phase.
3. Leak tests: We offer professional leak tests for our systems on-site. The tests can also be carried out with annual maintenance or inspection of the entire system. Leak testing is done non-destructively using modern, portable helium leak testers up to a detection limit of 10E-8 (mbar l/s). For hydrogen systems in particular, hydrogen can also be detected as an alternative to the helium generally used as a test medium.
4. Spare parts: We provide a comprehensive spare and wear parts package for every system, ensuring you have all the necessary components. Thanks to our detailed system documentation, essential wear and spare parts can be dispatched quickly.

We use redundant online gas analysis equipment in our hydrogen recycling plants to ensure the desired gas quality.

At ReiCat, we understand gas drying to mean the removal of moisture from a technical gas. By gas purification, we mean the removal of unwanted impurities from a technical gas. Those unwanted impurities may include moisture. Gas drying is therefore a sub-category of gas purification.