Fuel cells are an important technology for generating sustainable energy and – as they cause no harmful emissions – are an increasingly viable resource for climate-friendly power generation. Using hydrogen as a fuel in a noiseless electrochemical process leaves only water and atmospheric oxygen as emissions. While the environmental benefits are clear, this process does offer some technical challenges.

To enable the safe and efficient operation of fuel cell stacks, Hengst offers high-performance filtration solutions designed to help overcome these challenges. Developed as either standard/modular or fully customized components, they effectively help expand CO₂-neutral power generation. Even better, offering these fuel cell filtration solutions helps us live up to our corporate vision of “purifying our planet”.

In fuel cell stacks, ions that unintentionally leach into coolant circuits can pose a real problem, resulting in increased coolant conductivity and electrical short-circuit effects – and eventual power loss of the fuel cell. The Hengst ion exchanger Blue.iox can provide a remedy, by maintaining minimal electrical conductivity of the coolant, resulting in more consistent fuel cell function.

A cathode air filtration system Blue.netic specially developed for fuel cell applications shields critical components of the fuel cell from harmful particles and gases. By effectively capturing sulfur oxides, ammonia, and other harmful gases, the filter prevents damage to the fuel cell catalyst and membrane.

Many fuel cells recirculate unused anode gas to recover excess hydrogen. In order to do this, water (which is mixed with the excess hydrogen gas) must be removed. Hengst offers a compact water/gas separation system that uses a novel valve design to effectively purge water and route recovered hydrogen back to the anode gas flow.