Thermo Fisher Scientific and CPH2 team up to give renewable hydrogen production the green light

Significance of the topic

The transition to low-carbon energy systems requires large-scale, low-emission hydrogen production. Today only a small fraction of global hydrogen is produced in a truly renewable (green) way, yet hydrogen will be a critical energy carrier for decarbonizing transport, industry and grid balancing. Accurate measurement of hydrogen product purity and impurity levels is essential for fuel-cell manufacturers, regulatory compliance and for evaluating process efficiency and energy consumption per kilogram of hydrogen produced.

Objectives and study overview

This case study describes a collaboration between Thermo Fisher Scientific and Clean Power Hydrogen (CPH2) to validate and improve analytical control over CPH2’s membrane-free electrolysis and cryogenic separation units. The primary goals were to obtain high-precision measurements of hydrogen and oxygen purity, simplify the gas-analysis footprint across R&D and factory acceptance testing, and enable reliable certification of impurity levels to meet strict ISO fuel-cell specifications.

Methodology

CPH2 replaced multiple incumbent gas analyzers with a single process mass spectrometer capable of simultaneous multi-species analysis at multiple sampling points. The approach enabled direct quantification of trace impurities in both hydrogen and oxygen product streams during both R&D trials and routine factory acceptance tests. Precision and accuracy were benchmarked against previous analyzer performance to demonstrate improvements in measurement uncertainty and operational efficiency.

Used instrumentation

• Thermo Scientific Prima PRO Process Mass Spectrometer (magnetic sector mass spectrometry)
• Legacy gas analyzers previously in use with approximate accuracy of ±2 % for impurity measurements (not specified by brand)

Main results and discussion

The Prima PRO provided simultaneous multi-point gas-species analysis and delivered significantly improved precision, enabling impurity quantification to within ±0.1 %. Using the instrument, CPH2 confirmed hydrogen product purity at the 99.99 % level, a result that had previously been assumed but not demonstrated to that level of accuracy with older analyzers. The higher-precision data supported:

• Replacement of multiple discrete analyzers by a single unit, reducing analytical complexity and instrument footprint,
• Routine factory acceptance testing of each ISO-compliant H2/O2 production module with traceable impurity certificates for customers,
• Estimation of production plant efficiencies and accurate prediction of power consumption per kilogram of hydrogen produced.

Magnetic sector MS technology was key to achieving the low uncertainty; simultaneous multi-species capability allowed faster and more comprehensive process monitoring compared with sequential or single-species instruments.

Benefits and practical applications

Key practical impacts observed in this case study include:

• Compliance support for hydrogen fuel-cell quality requirements (e.g., ISO 14687 series), enabling direct demonstration of impurity levels to customers,
• Improved quality assurance for ISO containerized production modules through on-site factory acceptance testing and issuance of impurity certificates,
• Operational insights that enable optimization of electrolysis and cryogenic separation stages to increase yield and reduce specific energy consumption,
• Streamlined analytics: fewer instruments, centralized data, and faster decision-making across R&D and manufacturing.

Future trends and applications

As green hydrogen production scales, demand for high-accuracy, multi-species process analytics will grow. Anticipated trends and opportunities include:

• Wider deployment of high-resolution mass spectrometers in both modular production units and large-scale plants for real-time quality assurance and process control,
• Integration of process MS data into digital twins and predictive control systems to optimize energy use and throughput,
• Standardization and stronger regulatory requirements for documented impurity levels, increasing need for traceable, low-uncertainty measurement,
• Development of compact, robust MS instruments tailored for field and ISO-module use, enabling decentralized certification and reduced logistics for shipped hydrogen units.

Conclusion

The partnership between Thermo Fisher Scientific and CPH2 demonstrates that high-precision process mass spectrometry can materially improve confidence in green hydrogen product purity, simplify analytical setups, and enable reliable factory acceptance testing and customer certification. Achieving impurity measurement uncertainty near ±0.1 % allows manufacturers to validate 99.99 % purity claims and to better quantify process efficiency and energy consumption—critical pieces for scaling competitive renewable hydrogen production.

Reference

1. European Commission. A hydrogen strategy for a climate-neutral Europe. EUR-Lex – 52020DC0301.
2. International Organization for Standardization. ISO 14687:2019 Hydrogen fuel quality – Product specification.