The highest quality of hydrogen is crucial for the durability and efficiency of fuel cells. It will be guarded by Łukasiewicz – ICI experts, who will check all its properties and optimise its production process in the newly opened laboratory.
– Hydrogen fuel, which emits only heat and water and is therefore currently the most environmentally friendly energy source, is exposed to numerous pollutants, explains Antoni Migdał, Ph.D., Leader of the Chemical Technology Research Group Łukasiewicz – ICI. – It is therefore necessary not only to identify and eliminate them, but also to optimise the entire production process. This is what we will be doing in our laboratory.
Thanks to highly specialised apparatus and expertise, Łukasiewicz – ICI researchers are able to identify even microscopic contaminants of carbon dioxide, ammonia or chlorine and sulphur compounds, which are very difficult to detect and determine. This is all the more important as the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel for transport is subject to extremely demanding quality standards.
Work is underway to expand the available test methods and validate them. A set of gas chromatographs and an ion chromatograph, as well as a CRDS optical apparatus for the determination of water in hydrogen, are working under the rigour of the highest quality standards. In the near future, the laboratory will undergo a complex accreditation process.
The hydrogen laboratory was established as part of the Łukasiewicz Competence Centre ‘Hydrogen Technologies’ with funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
