Howden’s hydrogen compressor project

Howden has been supplying hydrogen compressors for decades.

In recent years, hydrogen has accounted for less than 2% of Europe’s energy consumption, according to the European Commission, an appointed group of the European Union. That percentage is destined to rise, thanks to a variety of hydrogen-centric projects.

One of those projects involves Everfuel’s green hydrogen production facility – HySynergy – designated for construction in Fredericia, Denmark. Everfuel has selected Howden to provide two compressor packages that will compress hydrogen for storage and distribution. Green hydrogen is sourced from renewables.

Howden’s scope of supply includes two reciprocating compressor packages, as well as auxiliary systems and Howden Uptime, a digital platform that gathers, integrates and analyzes data from rotating equipment. The oil-free compressors will compress hydrogen from atmospheric pressure to 2900 psi (200 bar).

HySynergy capabilities

Everfuel owns and operates green hydrogen production and distribution infrastructure and partners with vehicle manufacturers to connect to the entire hydrogen value chain, providing hydrogen fuel to enterprise customers under long-term contracts.

The HySynergy facility will have a production capacity of up to 8 tpd of green hydrogen, made from renewable wind power, with 10 tons of storage capacity. The Howden compression solution to serve this specific application is an ideal fit with the hydrogen production provided by Nel electrolyzers, which Everfuel ordered in December.

“After the Nel-supplied alkaline electrolyzer, the Howden hydrogen compressor solution will be the second-most critical component of the 20 MW hydrogen HySynergy facility,” said Everfuel CEO Jacob Krogsgaard.

The facility is expected to be fully operational in mid-2022, with the Howden compressor packages set to arrive earlier that year.

Hydrogen’s growing prominence

HySynergy supports the European Union’s Hydrogen Strategy, which calls for the installation of at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzers in the EU by 2024 and at least 40 GW by 2030.

Howden offers a variety of compressors, including centrifugal diaphragm (pictured), reciprocating and twin screw.

The strategy officially launched on July 8, 2020, the same time as the creation of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which consists of industry, national and local public authorities, as well as civil society and other stakeholders. The alliance intends to deploy several hydrogen technologies by 2030, bringing together renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production, demand in industry, mobility and other sectors, and hydrogen transmission and distribution.

The European Green Deal is another initiative that is part of the European Union’s Hydrogen Strategy. The initiative aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% (compared with 1990 levels) by 2030. Initially, the European Green Deal called for a drop of at least 40%. The endgame is to make the European Union climate neutral by 2050.

Several benchmarks have been set through the European Hydrogen Strategy. The European Commission will support the installation of at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzers in the European Union, as well as the production of up to 1 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen up to 2024. Between 2025 to 2030, the commission calls for at least 40 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzers and the production of up to 10 million tonnes of the resource. From 2030 on, hydrogen will have large-scale deployment across all sectors.

Familiar territory

Howden is already playing a role in these benchmarks with the HySynergy facility. The company, however, doesn’t intend to stop there, especially when it has been providing hydrogen compressors to the refinery and petrochemical industries for decades.

“We can advise on, design and supply the right compressor for virtually any situation,” said Marie-Laure Gelin, Howden’s marketing manager, research and development. “Hydrogen compression is not new to us and we intend to continue to innovate.”

This story first appeared in the April issue of COMPRESSORTECH2. For a free subscription, click here.