There are measurement challenges standing in the way of the clean hydrogen economy that must be cleared to ensure its growth and reach net zero, according to the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).
In its report, the NPL explored Measurement challenges in the hydrogen sector, looking across production, storage, distribution and end-use. In production, issues were identified around quality control, modelling and simulation, electrolyser testing and integration. For storage, challenges exist for permeability, cryogenic, purity and solid-storage storage, while leakage, embrittlement, infrastructure and blending are areas that need to be addressed for distribution.
As for end-use, there are measurement challenges for gas quality – such as current impurities in the network, and a need for more accessible, cheaper and quicker standardised hydrogen sampling and purity measurements; fuel cells – including measurements of the performance impact of different impurities in hydrogen fuel on fuel cells; industry – namely diagnostic methods and prognostics for devices that use hydrogen in industry; and combustion – including developing testing capability for requalification of materials in use with high temperature hydrogen combustion, measurements to quantify hydrogen combustion emission products and understanding of component wear, excess noise and vibration for hydrogen combustion engines.
If the challenges identified can be solved, then the NPL says it will reduce the production cost of electrolytic hydrogen, support the rollout of hydrogen storage and distribution infrastructure, see the development of new test facilities capable of advanced material research to support emerging hydrogen technologies, fill gaps in regulation, technical and measurement standards throughout the hydrogen value chain, and enable the decarbonisation of a host of different industries through supporting the progression of hydrogen end-use technologies.
