Developing cost effective & reliable Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle refuelling systems.

H2REF – Advanced new compression and buffering solution for hydrogen refuelling stations

The hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) is the key element of any hydrogen fuel supply chain and is the interface between various possible hydrogen supply concepts and the end-users’ vehicles. The core function of the HRS is the cost effective, efficient and reliable compression, and buffering high pressure hydrogen in view of its dispensing. The H2REF project addresses this compression and buffering function for the refuelling of 70 MPa passenger vehicles and encompasses all the necessary activities for advancing a new compression and buffering process. This is based on the use of hydro-pneumatic accumulators, which gives a more reliable, economical solution while still providing a highly improved performance.

Objectives

The H2REF project encompasses all the necessary activities for advancing hydraulic accumulator based hydrogen compression, from TRL 3 (experimentally proven concept) to TRL 6 (technology demonstrated in relevant environment), thereby proving highly improved performance and reliability in accordance with the following targets:

• Throughput: 70 MPa dispensing capacity of 30 to 75 kg/hr — depending on source storage of the compressed hydrogen — with a 75 kW power supply;* Robustness and Reliability: demonstrated through intensive lab test, simulating thousands of refuellings;
• Manufacturing cost of 300 k€ for the compression and buffering module (CBM) assuming serial production (50 systems/yr).
• Energy efficiency: average consumption for compression below 1.5 kWh/kg of dispensed hydrogen
• Identify the changes in the Regulations Codes and Standards (RCS) approach framework that are needed to fully enable commercialisation

Consortium

The H2Ref consortium is composed of six partners from four European countries (France, Germany, Norway, and United Kingdom) bringing together the key experience, knowledge base and resources necessary for reaching the objectives of the project with the work-plan proposed.