Chemical industry
Testing and certifying hydrogen valves
Kiwa from the Netherlands , specializes in testing and certification services in a wide variety of industries . Valve World spoke with Leendert van der Marel , Director Sales & Marketing Division Products & Installations , Sander Lueb , Technical Consultant Gas , and Harald Ophoff , Account Manager , to discover more about their all-encompassing approach to implementing standards for hydrogen valves .
By Alexandra Kist , Valve World
With its headquarters based in the Netherlands , Kiwa is a renowned specialist in testing , inspection , and certification ( TIC ). Their certification , inspection , testing , training , and consultancy services help their customers to make sure their products , services , processes , ( management ) systems and employees are all up to standard . Kiwa is active in various market segments , such as construction and energy supply , drinking water , healthcare , food , and feed & farming . Their main areas of expertise include management systems , corporate social responsibility , and lab testing . They serve clients in manufacturing and process industries , ( business ) services , public and private utilities , governments , and international institutions . Founded in 1948 , Kiwa boasts 75 years of experience in the field . They employ over 10,000 people in over 40 countries in Europe , Asia , the Americas , and Oceania . It is a member of the NVCi ( the Dutch Association of Certification services ).
Standards for hydrogen valves
Within the industry , a broad variety of standards and regulations exist for valves , as they come in all sorts of materials and serve all sorts of purposes . Hydrogen has become a hot topic , which is why it ’ s important to make sure valves are suited for this medium and perform well within the required parameters . “ In the recent past , Kiwa has conducted investigations on the differences between
natural gas and hydrogen with regards to leakages , and Sander has performed tests to quantify the differences in leakages ,” Harald Ophoff explains . In Kiwa ’ s whitepaper “ Technical considerations when testing hydrogen valves with air ,” Consultant Materials Ernst van der Stok discusses the results , and how to take these into account when working with the new standards . Different standards exist for different types of valves , such as lower-pressure valves , high-pressure valves , industrial valves , and valves in transportation or distribution systems . These standards are listed in Table 1 . “ These standards are all relevant when it comes to natural gas , so Kiwa had to figure out how to interpretate them to make them suitable for hydrogen ,” Sander Lueb notes . “ The AR214 ( Approval Requirement by Kiwa ) is the existing hydrogen standard used as a basis , and an investigation was conducted on each type of valve to see what additional testing is needed to prove that the valve is suitable for hydrogen ,” explains Leendert van der Marel . “ It takes out a lot of confusion . There is no need to take all these different standards into consideration , but you can refer to one : AR214 . Most valves already comply with it if they ’ re used for gas applications .” “ This is a Kiwa standard ,” Sander clarifies . “ The Dutch grid companies strongly rely on - and support Kiwa - Gastec QA certified valves . Gastec QA is the certification mark , issued by Kiwa is valves comply with all the gas-related certification requirements .”
30 Valve World February 2024 www . valve-world . net