Use of Hydrogen in Industry

Particularly in energy-intensive sectors such as the chemical, steel and cement industries, hydrogen will play an important role on the road to climate neutrality in the future. This is because the chemical element can replace fossil fuels previously used in industry and therefore make a significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions from industrial plants. Products and solutions from Pepperl+Fuchs are used in very different places in industrial plants that use hydrogen as an alternative energy carrier.

In large industrial plants, hydrogen is transported in pipelines whose valves require reliable monitoring. The inductive positioning system (PMI) and the extremely robust F31K2 inductive dual sensor for hazardous outdoor areas from Pepperl+Fuchs detect and monitor the valve position on hydrogen pipelines and report it back continuously.

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs), which perform various transport tasks in industrial plants, are increasingly being powered by hydrogen in a climate-friendly way. When refueling hydrogen-powered AGVs, it is particularly important to know the required pressure for refueling. This is because it can vary depending on the design of the tanks. An RFID solution from Pepperl+Fuchs enables the AGVs to be uniquely identified before the refueling process and ensures that the required pressure for refueling the vehicle with hydrogen is released.

If hydrogen is used as an alternative to fossil fuels when firing industrial burners, the HART loop converter from Pepperl+Fuchs can help optimize the heating value. When hydrogen is used, this value depends on the water content. The HART loop converter collects various process parameters from the field, converts them into analog current signals and makes them available to the host system. Based on this data, the heating value is calculated and the dosage of hydrogen is precisely adjusted.

The Ethernet-APL field switch from FieldConnex transmits all process parameters generated in the field devices directly, in high resolution and without drift for heating value optimization, enabling end-to-end communication into all connected systems. This includes all asset information from nameplate and configuration parameters to diagnostic and alarm messages.