Power & Energy, Inc
106 Railroad Drive, Ivyland (Warminster), Pennsylvania, United States

Power+Energy supplies Hydrogen Purity Analyzers and Hydrogen Separators and is developing high-efficiency, low cost Hydrogen Generators for fuel cell applications. P+E Hydrogen Separators separate pure hydrogen gas from reformate, syn-gas or other mixed gas streams, producing nine 9’s H2 with all impurities reduced to < 1 part-per-billion (ppb). Our Hydrogen Separators are used in Auxiliary Power Units and by the manufacturers of advanced and renewable fuels.

Hydrogen Extraction Products

The Power+Energy HEMS™ Hydrogen Purity Analyzer is a full spectrum instrument with limits of detection per impurity of < 1 ppb*.  The analyzer is self-calibrating and, with a short analytical cycle time, can be used as an on-line impurity monitor.  The compact package and automatic operation make it easy to use for quick sample verification at multiple points.

The HEMS (Hydrogen Elimination Measurement System) analyzer uses P+E’s patented palladium diffusion technology combined with advanced quadrupole mass spectrometry to achieve sub-parts-per-billion resolution.

Hydrogen Separators

Power+Energy Hydrogen Separators produce ultra-high purity hydrogen from hydrogen rich gas streams for Fuel Cells.  Each H2 separator may be custom designed to match the specific conditions of the customer’s application.  Power+Energy manufactures H2 separators ranging in hydrogen output from 0.5 slpm, capable of feeding a 50W fuel cell, up to 1,200 slpm, capable of feeding a 120kW fuel cell. Our Separator technology is often used to extract the hydrogen from reformate streams generated by steam or auto-thermal reformers.  In other cases P+E Separators extract H2 from a process by-product stream, from bio-gas (digesters, etc.) or from closed-circuit H2 recirculation systems.

Design and Operation

Power+Energy Hydrogen Separators use Micro-Channel Palladium Alloy Membranes to extract hydrogen from the feed stream. For mixed gas streams containing sulfur compounds, a sulfur-tolerant palladium alloy is used.  In some applications, customers use a sweep gas, either nitrogen or steam, to boost the hydrogen recovery of the H2 separator.

Radial Micro-Channel Reactor (RMR) for generating Syngas by reforming of fossil and bio-fuels

Power & Energy’s patented Radial Microchannel Reactor (RMR) is transformational in advancing the state of the art for efficient low cost generation of syngas. The RMR design can be used to reform a wide variety of fossil and bio fuels.  A reactor using RMR channels is scalable from a single channel to more than 1000 channels in a single unit.. The design of a single RMR channel configured for steam reforming is shown in the figure below, each channel in a steam reformer can have a thermal output exceeding 2kW.  Each RMR channel operates independently performing the endothermic and exothermic reactions with high efficiency because of the close coupling of the heat transfer between the outer surface of the outer tube and the inner surface of the outer tube, which make up the two reaction zones. The individual micro-channels are arranged in a close packed array with more than a 1000 RMR fitting in a 6” OD manifold. The RMR is capable of producing power densities > 50MW/M3, heat transfer rates > 15W/cm2, heat transfer rates > 2kW/gm of catalyst and volumetric heat transfer rates > 500W/cc.

Membrane and Cell Inspection and Welding Process

Power+Energy’s hydrogen separation and measurement products use patented Palladium Alloy Micro-Channel™ Technology.  This short video, produced in conjunction with The Office of Naval Research, shows a few of the many steps in our membrane and cell manufacture, inspection, and testing processes.