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High Purity Hydrogen: Guidelines to Select the Most Suitable Purification Technology



Author(s)

Marco Succi, Giorgio Macchi and Sarah Riddle Vogt

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DOI:10.17265/2328-2223/2017.05.005

Hydrogen is a gas widely used in a number of industrial applications. For example, in the electronic industry it is utilized to manufacture highly advanced devices like microprocessors, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) and solar cells. Hydrogen usage will be expanding as it is the main fuel for fuel cell technology and is used to store the excess energy generated by renewable sources such as solar and wind. In these applications the degree of purity of hydrogen is crucial and advanced purification systems are typically used to guarantee the purity. This article will review the types of purification technologies that are currently available to generate high purity hydrogen, starting from an already clean source that is at least 99.9% pure. Other technologies also widely used in gas purification, like PSA (pressure swing adsorption) and polymeric membrane separation, which are more suitable to handle a lower degree of hydrogen purity will not be discussed. This article will review the advantages and disadvantages of adsorbers, getters, cryogenic and palladium purification technologies with guidelines on how to select the most appropriate technology depending on the application and the experimental conditions.

Hydrogen purification, palladium membrane, cryogenic.