One of the largest hydrogen gas suppliers in the world, the Linde Group has come up with new hydrogen compression technology that it will be introducing at the National Hydrogen Association 20th Annual Conference in Columbia, SC on March 30 to April 3, 2009.
I’ve talked about the Linde Group before as the first company to open up a hydrogen fueling station for ships and as part of a small group of industrial hydrogen gas suppliers that could one day replace Big Oil.
The Linde Ionic Compressor will be a large step forward in hydrogen fueling technology. According to Linde, “Unlike conventional mechanical systems, the Ionic Compressor uses an ionic liquid in direct contact with hydrogen instead of a piston in the pressurizing process.”
Critics have long stated that the manufacturing and compression of hydrogen are not as energy efficient as they like, which leads to higher costs. This new pressurizing process is expected to reduce costs, increase efficiency and reduce noise and maintenance compared to systems that use pistons for compression.
Linde intends to use this system first for the indoor forklift market. For hydrogen cars, Linde is also introducing the HF-KTA hydrogen fueling station, which is highly transportable, easy to deploy and can refuel vehicles at 5,000 psi to 10,000 psi.