ASME Standards Dictate Fabrication of Reactor Vessels

A common piece of equipment in many manufacturing plants and facilities in various industries, the pressure vessel is designed to contain liquids, gases, and vapors at a substantially high or (low) pressure level. Often part of a relatively simple lab-scale setting, high pressure reactors should be designed and constructed in a manner that adheres to industry standards. This is to ensure workplace safety due to the nature of the reactions that may occur in pilot reactors. 

The ASME Standards

Standards are essential in relaying design requirements and relevant know-how and technology utilization in any industry. 

When it comes to standardizing vessel manufacturing, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is the leading organization for pressure vessel standards. Founded in 1880, ASME is recognized in around 140 countries: If a company is an ASME pressure vessel manufacturer, then it means that they have met the stringent requirements stipulated by the ASME. 

The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC) is a globally acknowledged set of manufacturing standards that painstakingly details how boilers and pressure vessels should be made — from design and manufacturing to installation and maintenance. For instance, it dictates which materials should be used for lab scale high pressure reactors, and the careful precision in welding required for high quality pressure vessels. 

The BPVC and the several other standards the ASME details are crafted by subject matter experts. One thing that sets the ASME apart is that they accept technically qualified stakeholders regardless of their citizenship or affiliation. 

Prioritizing true consensus, their committees work independently from any political or commercial interests. The goal is to be instrumental in preserving fairness not just in trade and competition by also in innovation. 

The ASME also acknowledges that technologies, the market, and other factors affecting pressure vessel manufacturing and application can change, they see that their code is continually revised to accommodate newer techniques. 

Why Choose An ASME Pressure Vessel Manufacturer

If you need vessels for your hydrogen compressor systems or supercritical CO2 extraction equipment, choosing a manufacturer with ASME certification is important. This badge is considered a hallmark of a reputable fabricator. After all, ASME is known to carry out strict inspection procedures before it provides any certification to an applicant. 

One of the most impactful benefits of teaming up with an ASME-certified manufacturer is the guarantee of the quality of the final output that you’ll receive. If your pressure vessels and boilers meet quality standards, then you can ensure that they will perform superior to those that were manufactured without these standards. 

A corollary to quality is safety. Pressure vessels are inherently hazardous because of their nature: They’re meant to store substances at a pressure level different from ambient pressure. Over time, if they’re not maintained or constructed correctly in the first place, cracks and damage can appear. This will lead to leakage, which, in turn, can cause fires, poisonings, suffocations, and explosions. If their capacity is not properly calculated or followed, it can also cause them to shift weights and in close proximity. 

By preventing accidents involving vessels and boilers, then you can protect your people and the immediate environment that they’re in. This boosts productivity, reduces costs (including insurance expenses), and improves your reputation — all things you need to get ahead of the competition. 

The Colors of Hydrogen Recovery

Being the most abundant substance in the entire universe, it comes as no surprise why hydrogen vital to so many different applications. But for hydrogen atoms to be usable, they need to be split first from other atoms (they’re often attached to another atom, like oxygen and carbon dioxide).

With the help of hydrogen compressor systems, hydrogen atoms can be extracted, compressed, and stored for future use. Today, compressed hydrogen is being utilized to provide cleaner energy, produce fertilizers, and process food to name just a few of those applications.

Hydrogen, in itself, is an invisible, colorless gas. But in the energy industry, there are color codes used to identify how that hydrogen was sourced and produced. Here are the different colors of hydrogen recovery.

Brown/black hydrogen. Long before any manufacturer of electrochemical hydrogen compressors existed, people generated hydrogen by transforming coal into gas. This old method is the most environmentally damaging — which is why the colors brown and black hydrogen is used to describe hydrogen recovery from fossil fuels. Brown hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced using lignite coal; black for bituminous coal.

Blue hydrogen. To have cleaner hydrogen, people began recovering hydrogen from natural gas by mixing natural gas with hot steam and a catalyst. The result is hydrogen and carbon dioxide splitting. The hydrogen is then stored and the CO2 is also captured to minimize the effects on our environmental. The CO2 is repurposed in other applications.

Gray hydrogen. Similar to blue hydrogen, gray hydrogen is generated through natural gas reforming. The only difference is that the CO2 byproduct isn’t captured after the process.

Green hydrogen. Considered the ideal color of hydrogen, the green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis. This process, often used with a hydrogen compressor systems only has hydrogen and oxygen as its by-product. By not using (and producing) polluting chemicals and utilizing renewable energy sources to perform the electrolysis, green is the cleanest color of hydrogen. Its why key players involved in green hydrogen recovery are aiming to increase their output. By 2030, it’s estimated that green hydrogen generation will increase 22 times than today’s output.

Turquoise hydrogen. Though its still relatively new, turquoise hydrogen is already attracting attention and is hugely considered to be a better commercial option in the near future. Turquoise hydrogen is produced through methane pyrolysis. It’s a fundamentally new process, technologically advanced, requiring relatively smaller amounts of energy to split hydrogen atoms from solid carbon. Similar to blue hydrogen, its cleanliness depends on how the solid carbon can be captured so that there will be little to no greenhouse gas emissions.

Pink hydrogen. Today, many hydrogen compressor manufacturers are focused on producing cleaner energy — more green hydrogen, to be more exact. But there are other cleaner colors of energy as well. Pink hydrogen, for instance, is much like its green counterpart, only that it uses nuclear energy to fuel that electrolysis process.

Yellow hydrogen. If pink hydrogen’s electrolysis process uses nuclear energy, yellow hydrogen uses solar power. In generating green hydrogen, a manufacturer may use a combination of various renewable energies, such as solar and wind.

Hydrogen can be the fuel of the future that will help shape economies and how people live. With advancements in technologies that can help scale clean hydrogen, it can be used in vital sectors such as power generation and transport.

How Hydrogen Gas is Powering Our World

The shift to using more renewable energy sources is brought forth by the world’s collective effort to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. But while they’re cleaner and safer to nature and us, the power that they produce can be intermittent. To address this challenge, industry experts are turning to sustainable energy storage in the form of hydrogen fuel cells, the production of which entails the use of hydrogen compressor systems and safe storage solutions. 

The Demand For Renewable Energy

Fossil fuels are the traditional source of energy for most parts of the globe. They provide stable power and are easier to supply. However, they’re finite and produce harmful emissions. Hence, the rise of the demand for alternative sources. 

Wind, solar, bioenergy, and hydropower are popular renewable energy sources. According to the International Energy Agency, these renewables are expected to account for about 18% of primary energy in 12 years. 

Manufacturers of high-pressure gas compressors are one of the industry players involved with ways to compress, store and transport hydrogen gas more cost-effectively because of the demand for their hydrogen gas compressors. One of the biggest challenges of using hydrogen fuel cells as an energy source is their market stability. For instance, energy harnessed from winds won’t be the same throughout the year because wind conditions vary on a daily basis. The same is true for solar energy. 

Therefore, these renewables must be properly stored once produced. And as stated, one of the most viable ways that experts are looking into is the use of hydrogen. 

Hydrogen As A Flexible Energy Carrier

Hydrogen is a gas with many applications. It’s used to treat metals, produce fertilizers, and process the very food that people consume. Back in the 50s, the folks at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have even used it (in the form of hydrogen fuel cells) to run their spacecraft’s electrical systems. 

Hydrogen is considered a flexible energy carrier — it can be compressed and stored in solid or liquid form. It can be produced from various sources (e.g., Natural gas, a byproduct of petroleum refining), it’s a potent option as a top long-term energy storage solution. But harnessing hydrogen has also been more common with the increased use of syngas in the fuel cell technology market.

The problem, however, is that its production from sources that have a low carbon footprint can be too expensive. To address this, experts are turning to electrolyzers, which break water down into oxygen and hydrogen with the use of (renewable) electricity. The hydrogen produced, in turn, is stored in tanks until power is demanded. When the need arises, the hydrogen will power fuel cells to produce zero-emission energy. 

The use of hydrogen in conjunction with hydrogen fuel cells provides a longer-term energy storage solution (batteries can also be used as non-fuel-based energy storage but it’s only viable for a short period). 

Electrolyzers, together with high-pressure gas compressors, are also advantageous because the hydrogen they produce is pure. Additionally, they can be produced directly at a certain location where there’s energy demand. 

We can all look forward to a future powered by an element as abundant as hydrogen with such technologies. Fluitron is a high pressure equipment company in PA that is one of those hydrogen compressor manufacturers that continues to exceed the needs of energy engineers with their ability to deliver high quality gas recovery systems that are needed by manufacturers.

Compressing Hydrogen Gas for Fuel Cell Manufacturing

In the US, greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 6% from 2020 - 2021. In an effort to help reduce the dangerous levels of harmful gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, several industries are using more environmentally friendly alternatives like solar, wind and hydrogen fuel cells. Typical hydrogen fuel cells are completely carbon free with the only byproducts being electricity, heat and water.

The use of hydrogen fuel cells is not only known for reducing carbon emissions. They also help reduce the demand for foreign oil, are more flexible in terms of installation, help reduce operational expenses, and are recognized as highly reliable. 

How A Hydrogen Fuel Cell Operates

For hydrogen fuel cells to have peak performance, the purest form of hydrogen gas is required to feed the fuel cell device. A network of anodes and cathodes are designed to strip hydrogen electrons via an electrochemical reaction within the device. Therefore, we need a sustainable source of hydrogen fuel and a way to capture and store that fuel. 

Natural gas is the main methane source for hydrogen gas production and landfill Bio-gas runs a close second source. Industrial producers and landfill operations are now being equipped with hydrogen compressor systems to capture hydrogen gas and other byproducts during combustion process. This effort to reduce carbon emissions and recover valuable gases is a winning combination for our environment. The hydrogen gases are then purified and reused in the production of fuel cells.

To understand this better, you need to have an idea of how these fuel cells operate. 

These hydrogen compressor systems are often made by ASME pressure vessel fabrication experts that follow well engineered designs for high pressure compressors. A typical hydrogen fuel cell has two electrodes (anode and cathode), an electrolyte, a fuel source (in this case, hydrogen), and a power supply. Hydrogen fuel passes through the anodes creating positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. The electrons then convert to electricity through this chemical reaction.

The hydrogen molecules in the anode side are broken down into protons and electrons with the use of a catalyst. In most fuel cells, platinum is used as the catalyst. While the protons go to the cathode side through the electrolyte, the negatively charged electrons pass through an external circuit. It is in this section where the electrons generate electricity. 

After the electricity is produces, the electrons then combine and mix with oxygen to generate water and heat. 

As previously stated, the performance of hydrogen fuel cells will be better if there’s a higher purity level of hydrogen. This can be accomplished by contracting with a manufacturer of electrochemical hydrogen compressors that understands the process and is skilled at fabricating pressure vessels that operate at extremely high pressures. 

These advanced gas recovery systems are designed to prevent leakage or contamination. This preserves the quality of the hydrogen gas being used to produce the fuel cell. They’re an essential component of the whole fuel system that plays a vital role in the clean and efficient production of electricity. 

Why Choose Hydrogen Fuel Cells

When you think of hydrogen fuel cells, you may typically associate it with electric vehicles, which are a great alternative to the petroleum reliant cars that emit harmful emissions. However, there are many other fuel cell applications apart from transportation. Fuel cells can also be used for material handling and emergency backup power systems. It can also be used to fuel jets and power homes. 

There are several advantages to using hydrogen fuel cells. First off, hydrogen is an abundant resource. Because it’s non-toxic, it also won’t produce dangerous carbon emissions When industries are equipped with high quality hydrogen compressor systems, we can capture many of the harmful hydrocarbons being expelled into our environment. 

Fluitron is an ASME pressure vessel manufacturer with the skills and experience required for Bio-Gas compressor manufacturing.