Gas Conditioning Makes Green Hydrogen Industry-Ready

The gas conditioning plant operated by DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg at Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt has reached a central milestone. The hydrogen-carrying system components successfully passed the H₂ tightness test under the supervision of TÜV Thüringen. This means the plant is now ready for gradual start-up and can assume its actual function within Energiepark: cleaning hydrogen to industrial standards.

Within Energiepark's overall system, the gas conditioning plant forms the link between generation, transport, and utilization – and potentially storage in the future. A 30-megawatt electrolyzer supplies the hydrogen, powered by renewable electricity from the adjacent wind farm. Through a pipeline approximately 25 kilometers long, it reaches the TotalEnergies refinery in Leuna. During transport, interim storage, and contact with technical equipment, hydrogen can pick up traces of water, sulfur compounds, or hydrocarbons. Even the smallest contaminants in the parts-per-million range can be critical for many industrial applications.

Quality Assurance at Industrial Scale

This is precisely where Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt places special emphasis: at industrial scale, the gas conditioning plant will guarantee a purity level of 99.97 percent at the transfer point. It ensures that even the tiniest contaminants are reliably removed from hydrogen and its quality can be monitored at all times. To achieve this, it combines several state-of-the-art conditioning processes. The hydrogen drying process is particularly innovative: the drying agent is thermally regenerated using high energy input, similar to conventional methods. "We can demonstrate at industrial scale how moisture, sulfur compounds, and hydrocarbons are removed from hydrogen and quality is monitored online. This is an important step toward establishing quality assurance in future hydrogen networks and storage systems in a practical, cost-effective, and environmentally sound manner," reports Prof. Hartmut Krause, Chief Executive Officer of Science & Education at DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg and spokesman for Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt.

Gradual Ramp-up from Nitrogen to Hydrogen

DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg deliberately starts operations gradually. Initially, the plant starts up under nitrogen, then with hydrogen from the electrolyzer once it becomes continuously available. The first hydrogen production is expected later this year. Parallel to gas conditioning, technical testing and tightness inspections of the electrolyzer stacks are underway at Energiepark. As a real-world laboratory, Energiepark tests many processes for the first time under real conditions, thereby generating insights for the broad-scale hydrogen ramp-up.