EMEC Hydrogen

EMEC is an innovation catalyst working towards a low-carbon future. Primarily involved in marine renewables, we also operate in the green hydrogen space. Today, we're at Cranfield Airfield to look at some of our hydrogen equipment. Our mobile hydrogen refuelling solution consists of three parts.

We have a redeployable hydrogen electrolyser, a trailer-mounted air compressor, and the refuelling system itself, which is housed in a truck. Hydrogen gas is generated and purified on-site by a ten-stack Enapter AEM electrolyser. The electrolysis splits water into hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of a potassium hydroxide electrolyte. The oxygen is vented to atmosphere and the hydrogen sent to a low-pressure buffer tank.

The refueller takes the low-pressure hydrogen and compresses it into storage at 400 to 450 bar. Here we have the electrolysers themselves: two sets of five stacks, each with their own dryer. These produce the hydrogen at 30 to 35 bar, where it is then fed to the buffer tank and stored before it goes off to the refueller. This is the hydrogen refuelling system.

It takes the hydrogen from the electrolysers at 30 to 35 bar and compresses it into 12 storage banks. The refueller can store up to 56 kilograms of hydrogen and is capable of dispensing up to 20 kilograms at a time at 350 bar. Providing the electricity fed into the electrolysers comes from renewable sources, then green, carbon-neutral hydrogen is produced. The refueller is currently supporting the HyFlyer 2 project, where it's providing hydrogen for ground and flight testing.

The great thing about this system is it can be used anywhere that hydrogen is required, be it marine, road transport, or aviation, like we've got here at ZeroAvia's R&D centre at Cranfield. With hydrogen being essential to decarbonisation, this refueller allows us to bring hydrogen infrastructure to where none exists, including in the aviation sector, where we can demonstrate the safe and effective use of hydrogen refuelling.