Veolia Water Technologies UK (VWT UK) is supplying water treatment systems to global water electrolyser manufacturers as part of its movement into the hydrogen production market. VWT UK’s systems can be fed with reservoir, river, borehole or saline feed water to produce water suitable for feeding PEM electrolysers.
Water electrolysis has a key role to play in the production of hydrogen. To ensure efficient electrolysis, only high purity deionised feed water must be used to prevent impurities from concentrating inside the electrolyser, which can lead to faster system deterioration and affect performance.
The electrolyser manufacturer in question wanted to expand its offer and provide water purification systems to customers as part of an overall package. To support this objective, it approached VWT UK to supply purification solutions.
VWT UK’s solution is a modular system that can treat feed water to the required quality to feed PEM electrolysers. It has been designed to manage inlet water with high hardness and salinity, and ensure a variable flow rate to suit any requirement. The plant also includes softening and reverse osmosis (RO) systems to meet the electrolysers’ required conductivity of < 3 μS/cm.
This initial solution was developed for the manufacturer’s European-based customers. However, the partnership now also includes the supply of water deionisation plants to customers operating in the USA.
This is just one example of the standardised and exportable solutions VWT can provide to meet the needs of electrolyser manufacturers.
“We are delighted to support green hydrogen production,” commented Derek McIntyre, Business Development Director at Veolia Water Technologies UK. “By working with VWT UK, hydrogen producers can benefit from our extensive series of treatment technologies, as well as our deep understanding of the treatment requirements for various feed water sources, to ensure the treated water is suitable for use in electrolysers.“