Hydrogen is expected to play an increasingly important role in the transition towards lower-carbon energy systems
Hydrogen is expected to play an increasingly important role in the transition towards lower-carbon energy systems, with applications spanning industrial processes, transport, power generation and energy storage.
However, producing hydrogen at scale brings demanding operating conditions for the equipment involved. High temperatures, aggressive process environments, pressure cycling and prolonged exposure can all contribute to component degradation.
For operators and equipment manufacturers, this creates an important engineering challenge: how can critical components be protected to maintain performance, reliability and service life?
Surface engineering can form part of the solution.
The Material Challenges Within Hydrogen Production
There are several routes to hydrogen production, each presenting different materials challenges. In high-temperature processes such as steam methane reforming and other thermochemical production routes, components can be exposed to severe combinations of temperature, pressure and reactive gases.
Depending on the process and component, degradation mechanisms can include:
High-temperature oxidation
Carburisation
Metal dusting
Corrosion
Erosion and wear
Thermal cycling
Loss of mechanical properties over prolonged service
These mechanisms can progressively damage the surface of a component and, ultimately, affect its structural integrity or operational performance.
Replacing components with more expensive bulk alloys is one approach, but it is not always the most practical or commercially attractive solution.
Protecting the Surface Rather Than Replacing the Component
Surface engineering provides another option.
Instead of manufacturing the entire component from a material capable of resisting the operating environment, a protective surface can be engineered onto a suitable substrate.
Diffusion coating technologies modify the surface region of a component by introducing selected elements into the substrate at elevated temperature. Unlike a simple deposited layer, the resulting protective zone is metallurgically integrated with the underlying material.
Depending on the application, diffusion coatings can be designed to improve resistance to mechanisms such as oxidation, high-temperature corrosion, carburisation and metal dusting.
This allows engineers to target protection where it is most needed: at the component surface.
Where Could Surface Engineering Support Hydrogen Production?
The opportunity extends across equipment exposed to demanding process conditions.
In hydrogen production and associated processing plants, surface-engineered components may include furnace and reformer equipment, process tubing, supports and hangers, headers and collectors, valves and other metallic components operating within aggressive high-temperature environments.
The correct coating system is application dependent. Substrate material, operating temperature, process chemistry, component geometry and expected service conditions all need to be considered before a coating solution is selected.
This makes early technical evaluation particularly important.
Extending Service Life and Supporting Plant Reliability
The value of surface engineering goes beyond protecting an individual component.
Where degradation can be reduced, there is potential to extend component service life, reduce replacement frequency and support greater equipment availability.
Longer component life may also reduce the material, manufacturing and logistical requirements associated with repeated replacement.
For hydrogen producers seeking to improve the durability and efficiency of their assets, surface protection should therefore be considered alongside material selection during both equipment design and maintenance planning.
Applying Established Technology to Emerging Energy Markets
While hydrogen production is receiving renewed investment as part of the energy transition, many of its materials challenges are familiar to industries that have operated high-temperature process equipment for decades.
Diffusion Alloys has extensive experience applying diffusion coating technologies to components operating in demanding environments across the energy and industrial sectors.
That experience provides a foundation for evaluating new hydrogen applications where oxidation, corrosion, carburisation or other high-temperature degradation mechanisms could restrict component life.
As hydrogen technologies continue to develop, surface engineering has an important role to play in ensuring that the components behind them are capable of delivering the durability required for long-term operation.
Discuss a Hydrogen Application
Component protection is highly application specific. Diffusion Alloys can work with engineers and equipment manufacturers to assess operating conditions, substrate materials and degradation mechanisms before identifying an appropriate surface engineering approach.
Contact Diffusion Alloys to discuss your hydrogen production application or component protection requirements.
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