Component Integration for a Hydrogen Infrastructure Future
How component integration is fuelling the future of hydrogen infrastructure
Discover how component integration means simpler hydrogen refuelling station design, cuts costs, and improves efficiency for a sustainable energy future.
It’s a race towards a more sustainable future, and hydrogen has emerged as a front-runner for a cleaner, renewable alternative to fossil fuels.
But for hydrogen fuel to achieve long-term success and widespread adoption, there’s a key obstacle it needs to overcome: building the necessary supporting infrastructure. In particular, the development of efficient, reliable hydrogen refuelling stations.
In this article, we explore the common hurdles OEMs face while installing and operating refuelling stations, and how a component integration strategy can unlock not only better performance efficiency, but also cost savings.
Hydrogen as a sustainable fuel source
With the global drive towards achieving net-zero emissions, more industries are transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards alternative energy sources like hydrogen.
Today, hydrogen has applications across a wide range of different sectors, playing a vital role in oil refining, ammonia and methanol production, and steel manufacturing.
Beyond its industrial uses, hydrogen is being increasingly used for power generation and is one of the leading options for storing renewable energy, allowing greater flexibility in renewable energy systems. Hydrogen, along with ammonia, is also used in gas turbines to make power systems more adaptable.
As a result of all these use cases, the demand for hydrogen has more than tripled since 1975, making supplying hydrogen to industrial and commercial users a huge global business – and a colossal challenge to overcome.
The challenges of hydrogen refuelling stations
With the rising demand for hydrogen worldwide, developing the infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling stations is no small feat. To make sure these stations can distribute hydrogen safely and efficiently on a large scale, there are three key battles that OEMs and operators need to conquer.
1. Complex systems and component overload
Hydrogen refuelling stations are intricate systems that consist of multiple substations – involving compressor units, dispensers, storage panels, and more – requiring hundreds or even thousands of individual components.
Each station also requires extensive pipelines to connect each substation, adding to the overall costs. This makes station design extremely complex for design engineers, whose designs need to meet different requirements for both certification and functionality.
Added to this is the increase in demand. Engineers are already under immense time pressure to design and implement hydrogen station systems that meet every requirement, and this additional time constraint can lead to an overload of multiple different components, increasing the risk of inefficiency.
2. Hydrogen-ready components
When a hydrogen refuelling station is up and running, operations teams may have to deal with unreliable or difficult-to-service components. Hydrogen’s properties pose unique challenges for standard components, many of which – like valves, regulators, and filters – are not specifically designed for use in hydrogen applications.
Ultimately, this can lead to shorter operational lifespans, performance inefficiencies, and issues with reliability. When these components fail, replacement can lead to unplanned, expensive downtime. For operators, this means higher maintenance costs and reduced station availability, undermining the adoption of hydrogen as a mainstream fuel.
3. Seamless procurement
The hydrogen industry relies on quality-led, high-performing systems capable of managing hydrogen’s unique demands.
But there’s a problem – fragmented supply chains make it difficult for engineers to procure the right components. Sourcing these components often involves choosing a mix-and-match of different suppliers, which not only increases costs but also complicates logistics when stock levels might run low.
As a result, this fragmented procurement process directly impacts the total cost of ownership for a refuelling station.
Component integration is the answer
To combat these challenges and reduce complexities, technical solutions are now available to help industries transitioning to a hydrogen fuel-based future. One particularly effective strategy is component integration, simplifying system designs and optimising the hydrogen refuelling process.
Building a hydrogen refuelling station typically involves buying and installing many different types of small fittings, like valves, tubes, pipes, and other components for general assembly.
However, by using an integrated approach, engineers can significantly reduce the number of parts needed to build hydrogen refuelling stations – without compromising functionality.
Bundling different functions together – including filtration, regulation, and pressure control – into a single manifold means component integration can help:
reduce installation timescales,
cut out potential leak points, and
reduce the station’s overall carbon footprint.
Modular manifolds
Our modular manifolds integrate multiple functionalities into compact, streamlined units. These manifolds incorporate valves, regulators, and filters in a single component, reducing the complexity of system designs.
This approach is already gaining traction in the development of compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations and hydraulic applications, demonstrating its feasibility and benefits for hydrogen refuelling stations as well. Component integration simplifies maintenance, ensures more reliable operations, and accelerates project timelines, all while optimising system performance.
Unlock the future of hydrogen infrastructure
As the demand for hydrogen as a “go-to” alternative fuel continues to grow, so does the need to create a supporting fuelling infrastructure that’s optimised, reliable, and cost-effective.
Hydrogen refuelling stations are at the heart of this new infrastructure, making it vital to overcome their unique challenges to scale hydrogen as a sustainable energy solution.
By using a component integration strategy to source and install different components, OEMs and operators can simplify their system designs, reduce operational risks, and unlock cost savings. This approach improves station reliability and minimises unplanned downtime, creating a more robust and efficient hydrogen fuelling network.
Ready to learn more about the future of hydrogen infrastructure? Discover our range of fluid and motion control solutions for hydrogen refuelling stations