{"id":8749,"date":"2023-12-01T12:50:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T11:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/?p=8749"},"modified":"2023-12-05T18:00:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:00:34","slug":"hydrogen-setting-benchmarks-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/2023\/12\/hydrogen-setting-benchmarks-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydrogen: Setting Benchmarks Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Innovating Together: A market-ready, extruded profile seal has been developed under the Industrial Services Division\u2019s direction for use in the production of hydrogen. It was developed in short order and is now being used in alkaline electrolysis processes. The participants in a second project are now planning new, fundamental developments for the next generation of electrolyzers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHydrogen\u00a0\u2013 A\u00a0Resource for the Decarbonized Future.\u201d That is a\u00a0headline in a\u00a0guide to hydrogen that the \u00adIndustrial Services Division authored for the chemical industry. The white paper describes the development capabilities of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) relating to \u00adhydrogen applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a project for a well-known European maker of alkaline electrolyzers, FST has shown that these descriptions are not merely theoretical \u2013 they represent real-life practice. The Industrial Services Division\u2019s technical department has developed a new sealing solution in close cooperation with the Lead Center Special Sealing Industry (LC SSI), Freudenberg Technology Innovation (FTI), and the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The timeframe was tight, and, as the electrolysis stacks already existed, the degree of freedom in designing the seal was limited. The installation space was already set. \u201cWe jumped right into the details and ran numerous calculations and tests, and succeeded in optimizing the existing design of the profile seal,\u201d said Mark Boggasch, Technical Service & Innovation, Global Process Industry. With the unaided eye, one can see the change from the original flat design of the competitive product that had been used. It now has the spherical geometry of a profile seal. \u201cThe functional overlap with its partner elements was increased with a simultaneous reduction of the critical groove fill of the initial design,\u201d Boggasch explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second focus was on development of a permanent and sustainable material to replace asbestos, a known health hazard. The challenge: In alkaline electrolyzers, the sealing material must withstand a highly concentrated potassium hydroxide solution, as well as oxygen, \u201cwhich drive deterioration.\u201d It must also have a long lifespan and withstand enormous pressure and increased temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver Arnold, Senior Specialist Material Engineering, LC SSI, and Dr. Robert Rotzoll, Business Development Manager, Global Process Industry, immediately analyzed FST\u2019s portfolio of materials. In the short time available, an EPDM material emerged as the best solution. In specially executed storage trials, it exhibited better resistance to potassium hydroxide and oxygen than the material of a rival company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Success with electrolyzer products (from left): Wulf Geiselhart, Dr. Robert Rotzoll and Mark Boggasch. Team member not in photo: Oliver Arnold.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

500 Kilometers per Year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since a single profile measures about 5 metres in length for each electrolysis cell, the seals needed to be manufactured via endless extrusion. \u201cLong-term, we are assuming an annual production volume of 500 kilometers,\u201d Rotzoll said. Currently, the seals were at the customer for evaluation and the first series quantities were ordered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is more. Shortly after the first contact, it turned out that the customer was interested in a more in-depth collaboration with FST with the next generation of electrolyzers in mind. \u201cWe are just in the process of defining the content and the framework of this second, significantly more advanced development project,\u201d said Wulf Geiselhart, Technical Service & Innovation, Global Process Industry. Then FST will be able to let its existing \u00adknowledge flow into the design of the sealing environment to improve the overall system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on projections, the demand for hydrogen is expected to grow explosively in the chemical industry and in sustainable energy carriers, storage systems and fuels for fuel cells, serving as a key resource for a decarbonized future. In this light, these kinds of basic development projects with customers are tremendously important for FST\u2019s future. The project team agrees that \u201cInnovating \u00adTogether\u201d offers the opportunity to gain experience, learn and develop while collaborating with customers. The projects become a good reference and demonstrate expertise in development. Never standing still, always making progress and setting standards in new fields of application \u2013 in the end, that is a component of FST\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/i>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Innovating Together: A market-ready, extruded profile seal has been developed under the Industrial Services Division\u2019s direction for use in the production of hydrogen. It was developed in short order and is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[274,78],"tags":[587],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":["post-8749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sustainability","category-weinheim-en","tag-edition-01_2024-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8854,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8749\/revisions\/8854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8749"},{"taxonomy":"powerkit_post_featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/powerkit_post_featured?post=8749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}