Monitoring the next energy transition

Endress+Hauser is a global leader in measurement instrumentation, services, and solutions for industrial process engineering.

The organisation provides solutions for flow, level, pressure, analytics, temperature, recording and digital communications, optimising processes in terms of economic efficiency, safety, and environmental impact.

Industry Manager Taylor McKertich says Endress+Hauser customers come from various industries, including chemical, food and beverage, life sciences, power and energy, mining, minerals and metals, oil and gas, and water and wastewater.

With the energy transition gathering momentum across the globe, the company has been preparing its core businesses to support the rapid growth of hydrogen production in Australia.

“Hydrogen overseas has been more progressive and due to being a European-centric company we have been looking at hydrogen and knew this transition in Australia was only a matter of time,” McKertich says.

“In that case we have already had different applications and requirements from our international customers for a large number of years because of ammonia and syngas production and their similar types of operation to renewable processes such as hydrogen production.”

As a company specialising in bringing lab measurements to process, Endress+Hauser has used laser-based technologies for monitoring chemical composition and concentration in gases, liquids, and solids from laboratory to process applications, including hydrogen.

The Raman spectroscopy analysers deliver realtime, in situ chemical composition analysis of a material without needing to extract, prepare, or destroy the native sample. Raman spectroscopic components and systems are designed to enable full scalability from laboratory to process.

Known for offering sampling flexibility, McKertich says the Raman Rxn analysers pair seamlessly with a full suite of fibre optic probes for use with gases, liquids, solids, or slurry media in a wide range of process conditions.

“The benefit of having an optical analyser means it reduces maintenance, it is able to measure composition to a high level of accuracy, and there is no sample conditioning required which further reduces the overall cost,” he says.

“Because there is no sample measuring, it can measure in real time. Raman technology utilises specific wavelengths of laser light which interacts with molecules to cause scattering. A small amount of laser light will shift due to energy transfer (Raman shift), with the back-scattered photons collected and filtered by separation of Raman light.

“A CCD detector identifies a unique fingerprint of the chemical components and quantifies the amount of each, making it an excellent technique for accurate composition analysis.”

McKertich says through Endress+Hauser’s other portfolios, including flow, pressure, and temperature, it can further support hydrogen production.

As part of the company’s portfolio, it has recently launched EVO 2.0 for the portfolio of pressure sensors. This is Endress+Hauser’s second generation of its Cerabar and Deltabar devices. The new gauge and differential pressure transmitters relieve the burden on personnel through intelligent functions resulting in the operator saving costs.

“Each has a Bluetooth interface for easier operation and improved efficiency in regulatory control, safety, and other systems,” McKertich says. “It also comes with a self-monitoring and verification software called Heartbeat Technology – which creates the data basis for predictive maintenance and allows the instruments’ functionality to be verified without process interruption.

The monitor also comes with ceramic membrane and gold-plated membranes which are suited to hydrogen applications to reduce hydrogen diffusion events.

As part of the company’s temperature profile Endress+Hauser offers a complete assortment of compact thermometers, modular thermometers, thermowells, measurement inserts, transmitters, and accessories.

McKertich says the benefits include cost savings and process optimisation through fast, robust, and highly accurate iTHERM sensors. It also boasts the lowest operating expenditures through seamless integration, easy handling and long lifetime, and trouble-free plant certification through international approvals.

Endress+Hauser is a sustainable instrumentation provider. Chairman of the supervisory board Klaus Endress with CEO Endress+Hauser Group Matthias Altendorf.

An important part of hydrogen production is ensuring the operator is using clean water. Endress+Hauser offers water quality monitoring which assists with measuring conductivity, trace elements and pH levels to guarantee the correct process water quality for hydrogen production by using electrolysers.

With the rise of hydrogen demonstration plants and pilot projects across Australia, McKertich says Endress+Hauser has been involved with providing pilot and demonstration plant packages to the industry.

“Our project and engineering support for hydrogen projects has seen us be part of a very novel process,” he says. “Some of these projects have never been done anywhere in the world, so we have to undertake a due diligence that the instrument is correct.”

“We work in conjunction with our customer, application specialists and our projects team to ensure the customer’s solution lifecycle cost is minimised and the instrumentation selected is fit for each application.”

McKertich says the hydrogen pilot plants the company has been part of has allowed it to demonstrate some new types of technology and demonstrate to the customers its added value.

“Our project team is proud of executing these types of projects to our standards. When a customer comes to us for a project, they can rely on a team of local and global experts for the implementation stage of the hydrogen project,” he says.

“We have continued to support our customers with trailblazing products and solutions. Our industrial expertise and detailed application knowhow have led to pioneering developments which will continue to support our customers in the transformation into a greener future,” McKertich says.

Endress+Hauser has extensive experience in providing innovative solutions for hydrogen applications.

For more information visit www.au.endress.com

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