H2scan P&S Catalog 2025 - Flipbook - Page 27
Reprinted from Forbes.com
The Hydrogen Economy
July 20, 2022
The Hydrogen Economy:
You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Monitor
By Dennis Reid, H2scan Corp.
Hydrogen is entering a new phase and is now set to play a crucial clean
My company produces real-time solutions in hydrogen monitoring, and
energy role in the world’s energy supply and help address the climate crisis
other companies produce hydrogen-sensing products as well, including
by moving us away from fossil fuels. But there are some serious issues to
Draeger, Honeywell, MSA, Qualitrol and RKI.) These new forms of monitoring
address.
allow for more extensive hydrogen use since they solve for past safety
limitations like hydrogen’s volatility in certain concentrations. “Real-time”
The axiom often attributed to Peter Drucker, “You can’t manage what you
is a key term in this discussion, meaning continuous, 24/7 and basically
can’t measure,” applies to the fast-growing hydrogen economy as well. But
instantaneous. How might your company, and our shared interest in the
I’d swap out the word “measure” for the broader term “monitor,” meaning
environment, bene昀椀t from the expanded and safer use of hydrogen?
to detect (sense), measure, record, analyze, and then use that data to both
take immediate action when necessary and predict future trends. These
Past Monitoring Challenges
necessary actions might range from sounding an alarm to activating a
fan to turning off a piece of equipment or turning the dials to make 昀椀nite
Prior to these newer monitoring solutions, hydrogen was measured using
adjustments.
in-line measurements analyzed by a Thermal Conductivity Device (TCD).
This costly technology has many limitations when trying to measure
This article will explore some of the many uses of hydrogen, both as a
hydrogen in complex gas streams. False readings in multi-gas streams
clean energy fuel (as most think of it) and as a byproduct of various
and needing a reference gas also frustrate operators.
industrial processes, where it can indicate leaks or safety issues as well as
help assess real-time equipment health and process ef昀椀ciency.
Another older technology is Gas Chromatology (GC), which is off-line,
sample-based, slow, expensive, complex, has to be calibrated daily and
I’ll also discuss key hydrogen applications that require real-time
only takes about eight samples a day. Periodically taking samples doesn’t
monitoring, and how this has been facilitated by the development of
allow for timely changes and can lead to disaster.
miniaturized, solid-state, self-calibrating sensors on a chip. (Full disclosure:
90000265
pg.27
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