The Necessity of a Hydrogen Dryer
The Role of a Hydrogen Dryer
Due to greenhouse gas problems caused by excessive use of fossil fuels and climate change, such as carbon dioxide, interest and demand for eco-friendly energy resources are gradually increasing. As a result, hydrogen is getting more attention as a new energy resource to replace fossil fuels. Hydrogen is the ultimate eco-friendly source and it is a clean and infinite resource that produces no by-product other than water. Recently, the field of utilization has been expanding into various fields, including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
As the attention to hydrogen grows as an alternative energy source, interest in how it is produced is growing as well. The most commonly used method of hydrogen production is to utilize the non-biotic hydrogen by separating the hydrogen mixture gas generated in the petrochemical process, and another method is of refining, which is to produce hydrogen by decomposing natural gas into high-temperature, high-pressure steam. The refinement method of hydrogen production is most common method, and has the advantage of being able to produce hydrogen cheaply. Finally, there is a hydrolysis method, which is to obtain hydrogen by electrolysis of water.
Since the purity of hydrogen has a significant impact on the performance of fuel cells, refining techniques to obtain hydrogen of high purity are very important. Hydrogen dryer is an equipment that uses Pd (Palladium) and adsorbent to purify hydrogen by removing oxygen contained in hydrogen in the form of liquid.
Application of Hydrogen Gas
Migration to the Community of Hydrogen
There are various research and development on alternative energy around the world, and at the center of all, there is hydrogen. Many countries, including Korea, The U.S., Europe and Japan, are making great efforts to preoccupy the hydrogen economy and switch to the Hydrogen-centered society.
The production of hydrogen and its quality are important factors in the transition to this hydrogen society. Measures are needed to increase hydrogen production, lower production costs, and increase the quality of the produced hydrogen gas.
In order to improve the quality of hydrogen gas produced, GSA is preparing to enter the hydrogen society through continuous research and development on various products including hydrogen dryers.
The Functions and Operation of a Hydrogen Dryer
The Principles of a Hydrogen Dryer
A hydrogen dryer is an equipment that makes hydrogen to react with oxygen (O2) and removes the generated water by adsorbing it using an adsorbent in the adsorption tower. The supplied hydrogen gas is heated to about 100ºC in pre-cooler to make it easy for it to react in the catalyst tower, and then enters the catalyst tower, where palladium is charged. In the catalyst tower, water is generated from the chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. The generated water is cooled in the pre-cooler with hydrogen gas for easy adsorption and enters the adsorption tower. The water generated during the cooling process in pre-cooler is discharged outside.
The two adsorbent towers take turns in the drying process of removing water. The heating process uses a regeneration heater and a regeneration cooler to heat the adsorbent by heating the adsorbent by hydrogen to detach and cool the adsorbent. When the heating regeneration process is completed, the regeneration process is carried out to reduce the temperature of the adsorbent, which has been dehydrated, and the operation of the regeneration heater stops.
After the regeneration of the adsorbent, the operations of the two adsorbent towers are switched; so the adsorbent tower that performed the adsorption process starts regeneration, and the adsorbent towers that completed the regeneration process starts adsorption.
The Migration to the Hydrogen Community
- Hydrogen purification produced by hydrogen PSA
- Purification of hydrogen produced by hydroelectric installations
- Refine hydrogen gas by installing it on-site at the hydrogen supply line
- Necessity of coolant and hot steam supply
- Alternative design for explosion proof electric heater instead of hot steam
Traits of GSA Hydrogen Dryer
- Specially designed explosion proof electric heater available System configurable without steam supply for preheater and regenerative heater.
- The five-step level switch provides smooth water discharge and prevents leakage of hydrogen due to failure.
- High operating performance with reliable valves and instruments
- Use of high-quality adsorbent and catalyst
- Accurate system control for various instruments such as control valves and flow meters
- Various design code layouts – KS / ASME / GOST / DOSH etc.
- High efficiency heat exchanger application on pre-cooler and regeneration cooler
- Variety of specifications designing is possible based on users’ needs
System Configuration of hydrogen Dryer
HMI Configuration Screen
- MAIN SCREEN : Check the progress of the process flow road drying/heating/cooling process of the H2 dryer, as well as the flow rate, temperature, pressure, etc.
- SYSTEM START/STOP SWITCH : Switch for operation/stop of H2 dryer
- AUTO/MANUAL MODE SWITCH : Automatic/Manual Operation Selection Switch ① AUTO : The automatic operation of the process according to the sequence. ② MANUAL : The operation method of each manual process (4) Each time the NEXT PROCESS button is pressed, the process is carried out one step at a time.
- Manual Process Button
- Menu items
