GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

The project should provide a convincing and detailed roadmap towards large-scale manufacturing of the commercial compressor in the European Union. This should include realistic funding plans for a factory, quantitative details of the required infrastructure and plant operation needs, potential sites and their requisites, including permitting and administrative constraints, and a timeline for industrialisation. The compressor should be designed for a standardised and large-scale production process, optimising the manufacturing methods and lowering per-unit production costs and time.

In addition to the technical feasibility of the compression solution, the following aspects are to be addressed in the scope of the project:

• Special attention should be paid to the safety measures specifically linked to the compressor;
• Planning the safety concept of the whole demonstration site beyond the system limits of the compressor;
• Flexibility of the solution for several use-cases:
  • Wide range of inlet pressures (from 1 bar to 200 bar, depending on application);
  • Intermittent operation in line with the RES considered in the project;
  • Functionality as baseload compressor, as well as for receptacle filing (dynamic outlet pressure);
  • Reliable operation in challenging conditions (e.g.: hot/cold climates, marine environment, high altitude, remote).
• Sustainability, recyclability, and circularity aspects, especially if critical raw materials are used (for example Platinum Group Metals);
• Permitting and regulatory challenges at the demonstration site on a national and European level, including making recommendations for future regulation framework;
• Demonstrating economy of scale and TCO, including a detailed roadmap to industrialisation;
• Any noise disturbance and vibrations coming from the compressor should be quantified and the consequences on the surrounding infrastructure clearly explained and mitigated;
• The adaptability of the solution for different green hydrogen sources should be addressed, including low quality gas, very low inlet pressure, high inlet pressure from transmission pipeline and intermittent production;
• State of health and degradation aspects should be analysed in-situ and quantified;
• How the compressor deals with lower quality hydrogen (either as supplied gas, or for use-cases with less strict requirements) should be addressed;
• In the case of waste energy valorisation, the associated costs (CAPEX & OPEX) of integrating this energy source;
• The OPEX for different scenarios and different modes of operation, for example for a compressor not working at full capacity, should also be addressed and described, in order to get a realistic idea of the “real-life” energy consumption to be expected in a real application (where the compressor will not always run on nominal load);
• End-of-life concepts or second life/upcycling concepts.

This topic is expected to contribute to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership by supporting a European value chain for hydrogen and fuel cell systems and components.