We carried out an economic evaluation for electrochemical hydrogen purification (EHP). We found out that the CAPEX are already quite low and will decrease very fast due to economies of scale. An important advantage of the technology is that most of the components are also used in fuel cell systems or electrolysers, so all electrochemical systems will benefit from an increasing hydrogen technology demand.

The sticking point is currently the high energy demand. This is depending on the application and the operating conditions. Further improvements and research is needed to decrease the energy demand and thus reduce the OPEX.

The EHP system is able to extract hydrogen from different mix gases and waste gases, like reformate gas, admixed hydrogen in the natural gas grid, waste gas in the semiconductors or photovoltaics industry or purify polluted hydrogen from pipelines or caverns. During the purification process the hydrogen is simultaneously compressed to 200 bar, which makes it suitable for storage, further transport or refuelling of a fuel cell vehicle.