Impurities: The Main Culprit of Hydrogen Fuel Explosions
Korea Research Institute Develops Real-Time Monitoring Equipment
[Seoul Economy]
A new technology has been developed in South Korea that can monitor hydrogen fuel quality around the clock to prevent explosion accidents caused by fuel quality issues. On January 14th, the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science announced that its Semiconductor Display Measurement Group research team has developed the country’s first equipment for real-time monitoring of hydrogen fuel quality as it is injected from hydrogen chargers into hydrogen vehicles. This equipment measures impurities unintentionally mixed in the hydrogen fuel that can lead to explosions.
Compared to conventional fuels, hydrogen fuel is complex to produce, transport, and store, increasing the likelihood of contamination with impurities during these processes. Excessive amounts of impurities such as water vapor, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, and hydrogen sulfide can damage the catalysts in hydrogen fuel cells, potentially leading to overheating, performance degradation, and, in severe cases, explosions.
To prevent this, hydrogen fueling stations typically inspect fuel quality once per quarter based on ISO standards, but they cannot detect quality issues swiftly between these inspections. The research team developed equipment that allows for 24/7 real-time inspection. It measures the levels and concentrations of 8 out of the 14 impurities defined by the ISO, sending alerts if levels exceed standards so that administrators can take action.
The research team anticipates that the new equipment will also be beneficial at hydrogen production sites. Currently, these sites use expensive foreign inspection equipment that can only analyze one or two impurities per device and are challenging to maintain and manage.
Lee Jeong-soon, the lead researcher of the Semiconductor Display Measurement Group, mentioned, “We are currently conducting demonstration tests of the equipment at a hydrogen bus charging station in Chungju city. After completing the tests, we plan to transfer the technology to domestic companies.”