Hydrogen in the Chemical Industry

Development Competencies for Seals in H2 Applications

13.10.2022 | Whitepaper

English, PDF, 9 pages, 0.4 MB

About the Whitepaper

The switch of processes to the use of green hydrogen is uncharted territory in many industrial sectors and raises numerous questions. Demanding hydrogen applications require a completely new approach and need sealing systems that are specially designed for the specific requirements. But: what must be considered to safely seal components against H₂? How must the seals be designed? Which sealing materials are suitable for these special conditions? As a development partner to industry, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has wide-ranging expertise in the design of complex sealing systems, ranging from the optimum design of the installation space and seal geometry to material development, testing, modeling and simulation, right through to service life estimation.

Introduction

The process industry faces the major task of successfully advancing the requirements of the energy transition and the goal of climate neutrality. The decarbonization of industrial processes plays an important role in this. This can only be achieved by completely replacing fossil hydrocarbons. For energy-intensive sectors in particular, such as the chemical industry, climate-neutral hydrogen is becoming increasingly important alongside green electricity. It is used not only as a raw material, but also as an energy carrier and storage medium, as a coolant, and in the generation of process heat. However, handling hydrogen presents a challenge: It is highly flammable and potentially explosive, and the highly mobile, small hydrogen atoms can lead to the embrittlement of metallic components. What requirements does this place on the various applications in the process industry? What effects does this have on the sealing material used and what needs to be considered when designing the components?