Review of purity analysis methods for performing quality assurance of fuel cell hydrogen

In contrast to current petrol engines, fuel cell vehicles require much higher purity fuel during operation to prevent degradation of the fuel cell system. ISO 14687-2 provides a list of 13 different impurities with associated maximum limits that must not be exceeded when providing hydrogen to a fuel cell vehicle. This paper provides a summary of the offline, online and impurity enrichment techniques that can be used for performing quality assurance of fuel cell hydrogen. As a large number of hydrogen refuelling stations are expected to be installed across the globe in the near future, it is not likely that robust purity analysis can be carried out for all hydrogen provided to fuel cell vehicles as a full analysis as specified in ISO 14687-2 can only be performed by a few advanced gas laboratories around the world. Therefore, in addition to summarising analytical methods for hydrogen purity analysis, this paper will propose potential solutions for meeting these anticipated demands for quality assurance.