Swiss hydrogen plant opens with Burckhardt compressor

Burckhardt Compression delivered its first MD10-L diaphragm compressor unit in Europe to a green hydrogen production facility in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The plant recently started operations, about 14 months after its ground breaking ceremony.

Burckhardt announced in June 2021 it received an order for the compressor unit. It was to be manufactured in Shenyang, China and shipped later to Switzerland. The compressor system is designed for hydrogen mobility applications and capable of discharging hydrogen at a high pressure and high purity, suitable for fuel cells.

The new 2MW green hydrogen production plant was built by the Swiss company H2 Energy and represented an important step towards the development of green hydrogen infrastructure in Switzerland.

Using the diaphragm compressor system manufactured by Burckhardt Compression, the hydrogen that is processed in a PEM electrolyzer will be filled into Hydrospider swap trailers, 450 bar hydrogen vessels that will supply hydrogen fueling stations across Switzerland. The main end-users of the produced hydrogen are heavy-duty vehicles such as the first 46 Hyundai trucks already operating in Switzerland.

H2 Energy is a fast-growing Swiss company working together with various partner companies towards its vision of reducing CO2 emissions by using hydrogen as alternative fuel. H2 Energy is pursuing projects to develop the production and distribution of green hydrogen in Switzerland and across Europe.