Technology and innovation
Monitoring system enhances safety
An investment partnership between Anglo American Platinum
and Shell Technology Ventures (STV) will ensure and support the
adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). According to Andrew
Hinkly, CEO of Anglo American Platinum’s PGM Investment
Programme, the company, together with STV, invested in High-Yield
Energy Technologies (HyET), a Dutch company that has developed
electrochemical hydrogen compression (EHC) technology.
The technology is a more cost-effective and reliable substitute
for mechanical hydrogen compression, both in existing industrial
applications and in hydrogen refuelling stations (HRSs). Hinkly says
that HyET stimulates demand for platinum directly through use
in its products, and indirectly through supporting the adoption of
FCEVs, which require platinum-based catalysts. Its EHC technology
is expected to play a major role in realising a sustainable hydrogen
economy. The company’s latest compressor, the HCS-100, compresses
hydrogen by forcing the gas through a platinum-based membrane, to
reach pressures of up to 1 000 bars whilst ensuring its simultaneous
purification. With no moving parts, the HCS-100 operates at a
fraction of the cost of — and is far more reliable than — current
mechanical compressors.
Highly compressed hydrogen can store a large amount of energy,
much more than conventional batteries can. As a comparison: a car
drives about 100k