Recording of Friday, May 09, 2025 | The smarter E Europe Exhibition Program 2025 | Exhibition Program | Language: English | Duration: 20:08 .
The presentation at Siqens highlights a novel electrochemical hydrogen separation (EHS) technology designed to decarbonize the economy by efficiently delivering hydrogen through existing gas networks. Initially focused on methanol fuel cells, Siqens has expanded its expertise in electrochemistry over the past ten years to develop EHS for extracting hydrogen from various feed gases. This approach supports both centralized green hydrogen production and decentralized distribution, leveraging infrastructure like Germany's extensive 540,000-kilometer gas network, which is largely ready for hydrogen integration. The system enables the high-purity separation of hydrogen, making it suitable for applications such as fuel cells or for recycling processes in industries with significant off-gas emissions. Successful demonstrations have been conducted in Melbourne and Bavaria, where EHS has purified helium and extracted high-quality, fuel cell-grade hydrogen, respectively. Economically, the solution is viable due to its low energy requirements compared to traditional separation methods. It also addresses environmental concerns by replacing diesel generators at telecom towers with cleaner methanol fuel cells—a core business area for Siqens. EHS technology separates and purifies hydrogen from gas mixtures, redirecting other gases back into the network. It can handle chemical off-gases with hydrogen concentrations of up to 50%, ensuring that only nitrogen is released into the atmosphere after separation. Current costs range between 2 and 3 euros per kilogram of extracted hydrogen, mainly due to minimal energy and capital expenditure. Although dedicated pure hydrogen pipelines are not yet common, purification technologies will remain necessary in the future, as hydrogen transported over long distances becomes contaminated, making these solutions indispensable for preventing stranded assets. Additionally, the technology supports compressing low-pressure distribution networks to higher pressures, with plans to increase this further. When integrating hydrogen into natural gas, regulated government policies aim for optimal blending concentrations without compromising safety standards or efficiency—measured, for example, in British Thermal Units (BTUs) compared to natural gas usage.
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Dr. Thomas Klaue
Chief Executive Officer
Siqens
Germany
The production of hydrogen from renewable energy sources (RES) has made significant progress, with projects of various scales becoming a reality. However, the challenge of efficiently delivering hydrogen to end users remains, and multiple pathways are explored.Despite being the simplest molecule, hydrogen's delivery methods are not yet standardized. This session will delve into the practical considerations of different hydrogen distribution solutions across diverse project settings. Moderator: Michael Spirig, CEO & Founder, European Electrolyser & Fuel Cell Forum (EFCF)
Further Talks of this session:
Speaker
Markus Kösters
Head of Commercial
LIFTE H2 GMBH
Speaker
Markus Ostermeier
Managing Director
ostermeier H2ydrogen Solutions GmbH
Germany
Speaker
Dr. Florian Henkel
Lead External Affairs & H2-Technology Expert
Cellcentric
Germany
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