{"id":18109,"date":"2024-11-06T11:06:40","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T16:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/\/?p=18109"},"modified":"2025-03-19T09:45:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T14:45:58","slug":"nationwide-network-of-h2-fueling-stations-key-to-hydrogen-mobility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/applications\/nationwide-network-of-h2-fueling-stations-key-to-hydrogen-mobility\/","title":{"rendered":"Robust Sensors for Hydrogen Fueling Stations: The Move to H2 Mobility"},"content":{"rendered":"

While a mature hydrogen infrastructure is still decades to come, the U.S. is making progress toward that zero-carbon future with more electrolyzer installations and advancements in hydrogen transport, storage, and dispensing. Hydrogen-compatible measuring instruments play an important role in such projects.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The word moonshot<\/em> entered the popular lexicon during the Cold War as a way to describe an especially ambitious project with a tremendous payoff. The United States accomplished that mission in July 1969 with Apollo 11 landing on the moon and returning safely. Decades later, the government has turned the lens back on our planet with equally ambitious goals of solving the climate crisis through clean fuels.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched Energy Earthshots<\/a> in 2021 to drive breakthroughs in \u2013 and the adoption of \u2013 affordable and reliable clean energy solutions. Of the eight \u201cshots,\u201d one focuses on the promise of hydrogen<\/a>. The Hydrogen Shot<\/a> aims to \u201caccelerate innovation and spur demand of clean hydrogen by reducing the cost by 80%, to $1 per 1 kilogram of clean hydrogen within 1 decade.\u201d In October 2024, the DOE\u2019s Hydrogen Program <\/a>announced up to $46 million to advance hydrogen and fuel cell technologies<\/a> to support innovations in commercial-scale hydrogen installations.<\/p>\n

Barriers to Hydrogen Mobility<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One day, there will be more electric vehicles (EVs) \u2013 both passenger and commercial \u2013 on the roads than ones powered by an internal combustion engine. Vehicles that use hydrogen fuel cells hold key advantages over plug-in EVs in that they are refueled very similarly to gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles: pump and go. The issue, of course, is the lack of a widespread hydrogen infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Advances in hydrogen mobility<\/a> will hinge on our ability to expand the network of refueling stations so that no detours are necessary to refill a hydrogen tank. Of the roughly 700 hydrogen fueling stations worldwide, the U.S. currently has 58 of them \u2013 almost all in California (Alternative Fuels Data Center, DOE<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Hydrogen production<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Parallel to increasing the number of hydrogen fueling stations is the need to move away from using hydrocarbons as the feedstock. Most of the H2<\/sub> used today is derived from natural gas in a process called steam methane reforming (SMR); this is gray hydrogen, and one of its byproducts is carbon dioxide. If the carbon is captured and stored<\/a> as part of the process, that\u2019s blue hydrogen.<\/p>\n

Achieving net zero calls for moving toward electrolysis: splitting water molecules with electricity, preferably from renewable sources like solar and wind. This is green hydrogen. As of May 2024, existing and planned electrolyzer installations in the U.S. totaled about 4.5 GW, a ~20% increase since 2023 (DOE Hydrogen Program<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

Existing and planned electrolyzer installations (cumulative) in the U.S. as of May 2024 (source: DOE)<\/p><\/div>\n \n

\nSupply challenges and high prices are the main reasons that some hydrogen stations in the U.S. have closed in late 2023 and early 2024. For hydrogen mobility to become a reality, the DOE\u2019s Hydrogen Shot needs to reach its goal.<\/p>\n

Hydrogen delivery and storage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Once the hydrogen is produced, whether by SMR or electrolysis, it needs to be delivered to a fueling station. Currently, H2<\/sub> is transported in \u201ctube trailers\u201d \u2013 semitrailers with a cluster of steel tube tanks. In the future, these tanks will be replaced by Type IV carbon fiber tanks, which are able to withstand higher tank pressure (greater compression means more product can be transported) while being much lighter.<\/p>\n

Further down the line, it would make economic sense for a large chain of hydrogen fueling stations to produce its own hydrogen using green electricity and to lay pipelines to connect electrolyzers with its network of stations.<\/p>\n

Unique Challenges of Working with Hydrogen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Due to this element\u2019s physical and chemical properties, standard measuring instruments are unsuitable for hydrogen applications.<\/p>\n