Kiwa Energy's Hydrogen Production Plant

Clare Jackson of Hydrogen UK was guest speaker at the official opening of Kiwa’s local hydrogen production plant this week.   

The plant and technology demonstration site is linked to Kiwa’s new test labs by the UK’s first low pressure hydrogen distribution pipeline, operated under the Gas Act 1986. The ability to connect to a continuous flow of odourised hydrogen will be invaluable to manufacturers seeking to understand the performance and longevity of their appliances.  

The Kiwa team (including Project Manager Georgina Orr and Project Engineer Dr. Leighton Holyfield) has designed and managed the build of the hydrogen production plant, which involves Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) of natural gas, primarily from a local biogas source, and the conversion of Kiwa’s labs to use this piped hydrogen. The knowledge gained is already proving useful to standards developers, market regulators and those looking to convert their own facilities to use bulk hydrogen.  

Project Director Mark Crowther comments “This production facility demonstrates the feasibility of producing hydrogen from a locally derived source, which will potentially be of interest to biogas production sites. Kiwa is already taking bookings from technology developers wanting to demonstrate their products such as hydrogen purifiers, gas analysers and low carbon capture technologies.”  

For more information about our hydrogen services please email uk.service@kiwa.com or call 01242 677877.