The hydrogen and
fuel cell center
ZBT GmbH

H2Fuel: Limit values for harmful components in hydrogen

The aim of the project H2Fuel coordinated by ZBT is to develop new, technically and economically suitable limit values for the pollutant components described in ISO 14687 for use in fuel cell systems.

fuel cell testrig at ZBT for single cell testing

HyLab Qualified Hydrogen Analytics

Relevant standard for the EU wide legally binding hydrogen delivery quality at hydrogen refuelling stations are the ISO 14687:2019 and EN 17124:2019, respectively. The defined threshold values, however, do not consider any current fuel cell configurations, realistic load cycles or TCO. On the one hand, this circumstance can lead to a reduced mileage of current or future fuel cell power trains.  On the other hand, these threshold values may be defined too low, leading in increased H2 supply costs. Here a compromise has to be identified between the required hydrogen quality with the resulting hydrogen supply costs and the costs for the fuel cell power train (here especially the catalyst loading of the MEA).

Within this by ZBT coordinated project new, technical and economical suitable threshold values of impurities described in the international standards will be elaborated by

  • Extensive experimental fuel cell investigations (single cell & short stacks) with dynamic load cycles and current and future MEA configurations. Impact of single impurities and cocktails will be analysed. The investigations at ZBT will be performed in the hydrogen quality laboratory Hy-Lab 
  • Development of a low-cost online sensor for HRS
  • Setup of a cost model for TCO and trade-off calculations between H2 costs and fuel cell costs

The results will be transferred to the technical commissions for standardisation for the initialisation of a revision process.

Key facts

  • Start: Nov 2019, duration 3 years
  • Partners: ZBT, ZSW, ISE, LBST & Uni Düsseldorf
  • Ass. Partners: Mercedes-Benz FuelCell, Toyota, BMW, Ford & Elring Klinger

Department hydrogen infrastructure

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