McPhy is a French company founded in 2008, having initially developed a magnesium hydridehydrogen storage solution, but now focusing more on the production of electrolyzers and hydrogen stations.

McPhy history

McPhy Energy was founded in La Motte Fanjas in 2008. Initially, it developed a hydrogen storage system in the form of metal hydrides in partnership with the CEA and CNRS. The first tank, with a capacity of 1kg of H2, was delivered to CEA-Liten on March 29, 2010.

However, the company then shifted its focus to electrolyzers and hydrogen filling stations. In 2013, the startup acquired Piel, a designer ofalkaline electrolyzers. In 2014, it set up an electrolyzer production plant in Tuscany. In 2017, it launched a range ofPEM electrolyzers.

The young company is floated on the stock market in 2014 and EDF buys 21.7% of it in 2018. It increases its capital by €6.9 million in 2019, then by €180 million in 2020, of which €30 and €15 million come from Chart International Holdings and Technip Energies respectively.

Project news

• On May 20, 2021, McPhy announced that it had pre-selected the Belfort site, “at the heart of the European hydrogen ecosystem and Energy Valley”, to set up its “Giga Factory”. This plant is designed to scale up the production of alkaline electrolyzers, which could radically reduce their unit cost. The target production capacity is 1GW/year. Its deployment would represent 30 to 40Mn€ is nevertheless “conditional in particular on obtaining financing under the IPCEI“(Financial results 2021).
• On June 22, 2021, they announced the installation of a new industrial site in Grenoble, enabling them to increase their hydrogen station production capacity from 20 to 150 units per year. It was due to be operational in March 2022.
• On September 7, 2021, they announced that they would supply hydrogen stations for the R-Hynoca project, in partnership with R-GDS (Strasbourg energy) and Haffner Energy.
• On September 30, 2021, McPhy signed an agreement with Enel Green Power to supply a 4 MW pressurized alkaline electrolyzer from the Augmented McLyzer range in Carlentini, Italy, to provide a Power-to-Gas system.
• On September 30, 2021, they signed a research memorandum of understanding to accelerate innovation around research with General Eletric, GRT Gaz, Ineris and the network of French technology universities (UTBM, UTC and UTT).
• On December 21, 2021, a consortium of 13 companies, including McPhy, was selected to lead the GreenH2Atlantic project in Sines (Portugal). The French company will design and supply a 100MW “Augmented McLyzer” electrolyzer, with a production capacity of 41 tonnes H2/day.
• On January 17, 2022, the startup signed a contract with Eiffage Énergie Systèmes – Clemessy to equip a site in Belfort with a 1MW electrolyzer and a 350-bar hydrogen refueling station (800kg/d) designed to supply a fleet of hydrogen-powered buses, the “Optymo” network.
• On April 25, 2022, McPhy announced an agreement with Hype (which currently markets mainly hydrogen-powered cabs) in which the company subscribed to €12 million in convertible bonds and entered into a framework agreement providing for the deployment of at least 100 hydrogen stations, 50% of which would be allocated to McPhy, and 15 to 25MW of alkaline electrolyzers. A first 2MW electrolyzer and a hydrogen station have already been decided for the Paris region.

Products marketed by McPhy

Electrolyzers to produce hydrogen

McPhy boasts a leading position“in pressurized alkaline electrolysis“. It offers three ranges:

• Piel, from 0.4 to 10 ^Nm3/h and from 1 to 8 bar
• McLyzer
  • “Small line: 20 ^Nm3/h at 30 bar
  • McLyzer 100-30, ^100Nm3/h at 30 bar, with a power rating of 0.5MW
  • McLyzer 200-30, ^200Nm3/h at 30 bar, with an output of 1MW
  • McLyzer 400-30, ^400Nm3/h at 30 bar, with an output of 2MW
  • McLyzer 800-30, ^800Nm3/h at 30 bar, with an output of 4MW. This is the core module of the Augmented McLyzer
• Augmented McLyzer
  • This is a bespoke range designed for large-scale installations in industry, such as refineries, chemicals, iron and steel, etc.

According to McPhy, “about 5.5 kWh are needed to produce 1m3 of gas”. At another time, they give the figure of 4.5kWh/Nm3 (for the Mclyzer small line). Dihydrogen has a density of 0.08988g/L under normal conditions of temperature and pressure. So we’d have 4.5kWh for 89.88gH2, or 50.06kWh/kgH2 (and 61.19kWh/kgH2 for 5.5kWh/Nm3). It’s interesting to look at the efficiency of their technology.

Hydrogen recharging stations

Their hydrogen stations are typically 10m² on the ground, “plug&play” (= easy to install) and can be combined with electrolyzers.

• The starter kit: the McFilling 20-350 station, delivering 20kgH2/day at 350bars,
• Large hydrogen stations
  • McFilling 350: 200 to over 1300kgH2/day at 350bars, delivering over 100kg in an hour.
  • McFilling 700: 200 to 800kgH2/day at 700bars, delivering over 100kg in three hours.
  • McFilling Dual Pressure: 200 to 800 kgH2/day at 350 and 700 bars, delivering over 100kg in three hours.
• Augmented McFilling stations for heavy-duty transport, from 2 tonnes of hydrogen per day.

Other interesting articles:

• An article presenting the magnesium hydride storage technology developed in 2010: http://www.enerzine.com/la-solution-de-stockage-dhydrogene-sous-forme-solide/8477-2010-04

Hysilabs is a start-up developing a process for transporting hydrogen in liquid form, which would solve one of hydrogen’s main problems: transportation and storage.

One of hydrogen’s biggest problems is storage. Under “normal” conditions, 1kg of hydrogen takes up 11,000 liters… What’s more, dihydrogen is the smallest molecule AND is highly corrosive to steel. In short, an infernal headache.

Currently, to transport it, we mainly use compression (350-700 bars for hydrogen mobility) which consumes a lot of energy (>10% of the energy potential of the hydrogen transported), requires very heavy specific tanks and carries risks. More rarely, we use liquefaction, which is denser, but must be maintained below -253°C and consumes a great deal of energy (>20%). These difficulties make it imperative to develop alternatives.

Hysilabs technology

Founded by Pierre-Emmanuel Casanova and Vincent Lôme in 2015 in Aix-en-Provence, HySiLabs proposes to store hydrogen in a silicon solution (named “HydroSil) in the form of hydrides. Unlike McPhy and the designers of Powerpaste, HySiLabs has chosen silicon hydrides rather than magnesium hydrides.

This process would be

• Carbon-free
• Environmentally harmless (as opposed to ammonia NH3)
• stable, able to hold hydrogen for several days or months and be reused a lot.

Their competitors would be Hydrogenious and Chiyoda, but the vector proposed by the latter would be carbon-based and toxic (Source: Les Echos, to be verified).

HydroSil could transport 8.7% of its mass in hydrogen. A truck could therefore carry 7 times more H2 than a high-pressure hydrogen truck at 200 bars.

History and financing

The company raised €2 million and was the winner of the EDF Pulse prize in the Smart City category in 2018. It has also reportedly received €4 million from the European Commissions. Anticipating a larger round, it planned to set up a plant in Fos in 2020. This fund-raising still seems to be in progress, scheduled for 2022. They plan to register Hydrosyl with REACH in 2023 and use it for the first time (to power a hydrogen boat) in 2024.(Source)

To find out more, read our article on hydrogen storage.

Hyseas Energy is a startup developing hydrogen fuel cells for boats resistant to the specific conditions of marine transport (the risk of salt corrosion in particular).

The company was founded in Cannes in 2015 by Arnaud Vasquez, a former captain and chief engineer in the French Navy. Since 2016, in partnership with the association des Bateliers de la Côte d’Azur, it has been developing the“Telo Martius” project, a ferry operating in the Bay of Toulon. It should be operational in 2022, departing from Toulon, La Seyne, Saint-Mandrier and La Londe to visit the Îles d’Or d’Hyères. The hydrogen-powered boat is expected to be 26 meters long, accommodate 200 passengers and carry 240kW of fuel cells powered by 260kg of hydrogen.

In addition to the two partners (Hyseas Energy and Bateliers de la Côte d’Azur), the project is also part of the Hynovar project, supported by the CCI du Var, Engie Cofely H2 France and Excelis SAS. Hynovar is said to have won an ADEME call for projects. Deployment was scheduled for 2020-2021, and the aid was to amount to 6.45 million euros out of an 18.67 million euro project, but I have no post-2019 information on this subject.

DNV-GL, a classification company specializing in industrial and maritime risk assessment, is said to have chosen the Telo Martius as a case study for developing “good practices” to be followed by ships with low-carbon propulsion (source: startup website)

Hyseas Energy SAS has been registered since November 5, 2015 (RCS Cannes B 814697215), with NAF code 7219Z (Research and development in other physical and natural sciences). The company is domiciled at 5 avenue Montrose in Cannes.

Not to be confused with HySeas III, a European project

HySeas III is a hydrogen ferry project supported by the European Union’s “Horizon 2020” program, which has brought together Ballard (fuel cell), McPhy (refueling infrastructure), Kongsberg Maritime and other organizations, all coordinated by the Scottish University of St.Andrews. It is due to operate in the north of Scotland, between Kirkwall and Shapinsay, in the Orknay Islands. The project began in 2013, and the vessel will be the conclusion of the 3rd phase (hence the name “HySeas III”).

Hydrogenics was a company developing electrolyzers and fuel cells, notably for “power to gas” solutions. It was acquired by Cummings and Air Liquide in September 2019.

The Hydrogenics story

In 1988, Traduction Militech Translation was born, which became Hydrogenics in 1990. It has been developing fuel cell technologies since 1995.

It acquired EnKAT GmbH and Greenlight Power Technologies(fuel cells) and Stuart Energy(alkaline electrolyzers) in 2002, 2003 and 2004 respectively. In 2010, the company developed a partnership with a telecommunications company, Commscope. The latter invested $8.5 million.

It has developed numerous projects, including power-to-gas demonstrators and hydrogen stations.

The company was acquired by Cummings (81.4%) and Air Liquide (18.6%) on September 9, 2019, for a total of $290 million.

Hydrogen products

Currently, the “http://www.hydrogenics.com” site links to the Cummings site. However, by browsing the site’s archive, you can find what the company was offering. It can be found on this page:

• PEM and alkaline electrolyzers for industrial applications and recharging stations.
• Fuel cells for hydrogen-powered vehicles (city transit buses, commercial fleets, utility vehicles or forklift trucks)
• Fuel cells for stationary applications
• “Power-to-Gas

You’ll learn a lot of interesting things when you read their product sheets.

Alkaline or PEM electrolyzers

Let’s start with the“HySTAT™10 – INDOOR” model. This is an alkaline electrolyzer producing between 4 and 10 ^Nm3/h(= “normo-meters” not “nanometers”), which would correspond to 8.6 to 21.5 kg/day. Outlet pressure would be 10 bar (30 bar optional). Without the HPS (Hydrogen Purification System), purity would be 99.9% versus 99.998% with it. There is even an option to go beyond 99.999%. It would consume 4.9 ^kWh/Nm3 and have an output of 140 kW.

We can immediately see the problem of hydrogen purity: some applications like electronics require it to be extreme: < 2ppm!

HySTAT™60 – OUTDOOR, meanwhile, could produce 24 to ^60Nm3/h, or 52 to 130kg per day. Its maximum power would be 515KW.

Both appear to take the form of a container, with a volume of around 15 tonnes. Some models can be combined with a compressor capable of compressing the gas to 150 or 200 bar.

Power-to-gas solutions

They have obviously launched a number of “power to gas” projects. Many are planning to use combustion engines to generate electricity, rather than fuel cells, which are several times more efficient…

• Galicia, Spain: a HySTAT60 would be coupled to 24 wind turbines so that hydrogen could be stored, then burned by a combustion engine to produce energy. I imagine to absorb production peaks?
• Port Talbot, Wales. 20kW of solar/wind would power a HySTAT10, a storage system and a HyPM 12kW fuel cell.
• Meckl-Vorpommern, Germany. Uses a 140MW wind farm to power 1MW electrolysers, coupled with a compression and storage system. Electricity is generated by a combustion engine.
• Stuttgart, Germany. A HySTAT60 would recover CO2 from a biogas plant to methanize hydrogen. I don’t get it: it’s a loop, minus the efficiency losses. They use electricity to make H2, then methanize it, and turn it into electricity.
• Falkenhagen, Germany. A 2MW electrolyzer plant (6 HySTAT60) and a compressor would absorb surplus energy and inject H2 into gas pipelines.
• Puglia, Italy. 1MW electrolyser would produce ^200Nm3 of hydrogen, which could be stored in a 39MWh “solid hydrogen” (= probably hydrogen hydrides) storage facility.
• Herten, Germany. A 50kW fuel cell system and a HySTAT30 to absorb surplus energy.

They also offer hydrogen refueling stations, and there are about twenty projects, but I don’t go into detail.

Haffner Energy is a company marketing a process for producing hydrogen by thermolysis of biomass.

Company history

The project is the result of a long-standing ambition on the part of two brothers, Marc and Philippe Haffner. In 1993, they launched the Soten company, which had already set out to convert biomass into energy.

The road to hydrogen production

Around 2010, the company began investigating new biomass gasification methods, and they realized that this could be an interesting avenue for producing hydrogen. By 2015, they had already filed 10 patents on this technology, dubbed HYNOCA. They then created Haffner Energy as the parent company of Soten, the latter being dedicated to the development of Hynoca (haffner-energy website)

Haffner Energy: IPO on euronext growth Paris

The company successfully completed its initial public offering on the Euronext Growth market at the beginning of February 2022, increasing its capital by 66.7 million euros. Shares were offered in a range from €8.00 to €9.50 per share.

Haffner Energy’s major innovation: HYNOCA modules

Haffner Energy’s main asset at present is the Hynoca process. The heart of the process is made up of two central parts: thermolysis (rq: oxygen-free pyrolysis / pyrogasification, if I’ve understood correctly) in the absence of oxygen and air at 500°C, which co-produces biochar, and then reforming / steam cracking of the gas produced. It seems that this process also releases a syngas they call “hypergas”, which is said to have a particularly high energy content (Lower Calorific Value > 9MJ/m3). Then there are the classic processes (catalytic reduction or Water Gas Shift, followed by purification).

Hynoca would be sold in modules reflecting this succession of stages: a first thermolysis stage, a connection area, then a steam cracking unit. Above, the purification unit extracts the pure hydrogen. A 40-foot (= 16-meter) module would produce 15 to 30kg/h of dihydrogen.

Its hydrogen production costs would be competitive, ” very competitive hydrogen production costs, between €1.5 and €3/kg”
(at 30 bar pressure, operating 8,200 hours a year)”. One kg of hydrogen produced by this process would capture, through biochar production, the equivalent of 16kg of CO2, giving the process a negative carbon footprint: – 12kg net! (haffnerenergy-finance website)

[Reservation: I’ve yet to delve into the difference between thermolysis and pyrogasification, as the two processes seem very similar]

H2SYS is a startup created by 6 CNRS researchers in 2017, developing hybridization solutions between (hydrogen) fuel cells and electrical storage systems.

Hybridization involves combining two energy sources of different natures. Hybridization poses a number of challenges, such as correctly dimensioning these sources and controlling energy flows.

Products: hydrogen fuel cell systems

H2SYS offers:

• Aircell: PEM fuel cells with nominal power ratings of 500, 1000 or 3000W. The dihydrogen consumed, 65g/kWh, must be 99.95% pure and at a pressure of 5 to 9 bar. They can start up in less than 5 seconds and operate between 5 and 45°C.
• Boxhy: Hydrogen-powered generator sets up to 8kVa, designed to be transportable, for construction sites.
• Thytan: Hydrogen generator sets from 50 to 130 kVa. They have an operating life of 15,000 hours.
• Mothys: a “didactic test bench” (= a tool with a battery, fuel cell and converters for teaching purposes). In particular, it can be combined with a hydride tank and a hydrogen flowmeter.

Services: support for electricity from hydrogen

H2SYS also offers engineering services for its technologies:

• Integration of hydrogen solutions for hydrogen-powered machines and vehicles
• “Range Extender for vehicles: a system combining an Aircell fuel cell with a hydrogen tank, and support for its implementation.
• Tailor-made hybrid modules.

Identity

H2SYS, meaning ” from hydrogen to system “, is a company founded in Belfort (90) in September 2017 (Siren 831 801 840). It was the 2022 winner of the Start-Up prize awarded by the major firm EY. It is headed by Sebastien Faivre. The company stems from researchers who took part in FCLAB, a project supported by CNRS and several universities that designed a “hydrogen fuel cell system hybridized to an electrical storage element, embedding electronic boards integrating intelligent control of energy flows.”(source)

• Les Echos, H2SYS launches Boxhy, the non-polluting generator, October 5, 2022

H2Pro is an Israeli start-up developing high-efficiency electrolyzers (95%) using an original technology: E-TAC. Unlike conventional electrolyzers, the two half-reactions – hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction– are separated. This eliminates the need for a membrane, which in turn reduces the cost of the installation. The price of the hydrogen produced could fall below €1/kg, making it more competitive than other hydrogen production methods.

H2Pro’s E-TAC electrolysis technology

E-TAC electrolysis consists in separating the two half-reactions of electrolysis. E-TAC stands for Electrochemical and TAC for Thermally-Activated Chemical. It is presented in an article published in the prestigious journal Nature Energy: Dotan, H., Landman, A., Sheehan, S.W. et al. Decoupled hydrogen and oxygen evolution by a two-step electrochemical-chemical cycle for efficient overall water splitting. Nat Energy 4, 786-795 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0462-7

The first reaction is the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER):

4 H20 4 e- => 4 0H- 2 H2

( Ni(OH)2 OH- => NiOOH H2O e- ) x4

This is the electrochemical step. The reaction at the cathode is the one that usually occurs in water electrolysis. However, it takes place at 25°C (the temperature is higher for alkaline electrolysis, 50-80°C), and you’ll notice that the nickel anode is altered by the reaction.

The second reaction, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), will restore the anode. By heating the solution to 95°C, the anode is reduced (=deoxidized) and oxygen is released:

4 NiOOH 2 H2O => 4 Ni(OH) O2

Note that the reaction is purely thermal; there is no current involved.

The cathode can have the same composition as for alkaline electrolysis (=cheap). In their test, H2Pro uses nickel-plated stainless steel. The anode, on the other hand, requires adaptation. They used Ni(OH)2 anodes. Efficiency is said to be 95%, requiring 42kWh to produce 1kg of hydrogen. The only other technology with this efficiency is high-temperature electrolysis, developed by Genvia. What’s more, the process can operate at high pressure. The entrepreneurs estimate that the price of the hydrogen produced could fall below €1/kg.

H2Pro progress and financing

H2Pro’s progress

H2Pro was founded in 2019 in Caesarea, Israel by Talmon Marco, who had previously set up and sold two telecoms companies for $1.1bn. The startup uses research from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. It won Shell’s New Energy Challenge in 2020.

They announced the completion of their first production plant, capable of producing 600MW of electrolisers per year on March 27, 2022.

H2Pro financing rounds

• In March 2021, H2Pro raised $22 million in a Series A2 investment round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), its European subsidiary, IN Venture and Sumitomo Corporation CVC.
• The closing of a $75 million Series B financing round was announced on February 15, 2022. The round was led by Temasek and Horizons Ventures. New investors would also include ArcelorMittal, Yara Growth Ventures and Companhia Siderugica Nacional.

FAQ

Enapter is a European designer of anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers. It is listed on the stock exchange and valued at 483 million euros (today).

History of enapter

Enapter was founded in 2017 by Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, a former director of a software company, after acquiring an Italian company: ACTA, specialized in the research and development of fuel cells and AEM electrolyzers. Its co-founders are his son Jan-Justus and Vaitea Cowan, a person who helped him design an energy-independent residence, notably using hydrogen (the “Phi Suea House”).

They have opened an office in Berlin in 2019, as well as a new production site in Italy. The company goes public in 2020. By 2021, it has 165 employees. It wins the Earthshot Prize Award in 2021.

Enapter electrolyzers

Enapter currently offers two products based on AEM technology:

• AEM 4.0 electrolyzer
• The multicore AEM.

AEM 4.0 electrolyzer

Their AEM electrolyzer is modular, taking the form of a 63.5cm-long parallelepiped weighing 38kg and capable of producing 0.5nm3 per hour (i.e. 1.0785kg/d) for 2.4kWh. The gas would have a purity of 99.9% (or 99.999% with an option) and would exit at 35 bars.

AEM multicore

The multicore AEM is an assembly in the form of a 12.2m-long container containing 420 AEM modules. It can (logically) produce 210 Nm3/h, or 450kg/day.

Energy management system

The electrolyzers would be remotely controlled and released with energy management software (EMS).

The system would be particularly suited to residential self-consumption and renewable energy microgrids. It combines IOT communication modules to produce the information, a telemetry platform to receive it, an “intelligent gateway” to connect the devices on a local network and send the data to Enapter’s cloud; then software to analyze and present the data.

To find out more:

• https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/exclusive-enapter-eyes-83-cost-reduction-for-its-unique-aem-hydrogen-electrolysers-by-2025/2-1-1256489

Ballard Power Systems, a Canadian company, is a major player in the production of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). It specializes in the production of high-power fuel cells for heavy mobility applications (buses, trains, ships, etc.).

History of Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems was founded in 1979 by Geoffrey Ballard, Keith Prater and Paul Howard to design high-capacity lithium batteries. However, in 1983 they shifted their focus to the development of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. After the design of a 5kW cell in 1990, things accelerated with a joint venture between Ballard, General Motors and the US Department of Energy in 1991, the development [beginning or end?] of a 90kW cell for hydrogen-powered buses in 1992, followed by a partnership with Daimler-Benz, and anIPO in 1993.

In 1997, the company founded a joint venture with Daimler and Ford , the Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (AFCC), to develop fuel cells for automobiles. From 1998 onwards, several tests of hydrogen-powered buses powered by Ballard fuel cells began:

• Three buses in Vancouver and Chicago in 1998.
• 30 hydrogen-powered buses in ten European cities, plus 3 in Perth (Australia) and 3 in Beijing (China).

In 2008, Ballard sells its AFCC shares to Daimler and Ford, focusing on fuel cell design for heavy-duty mobility.

In 2018, Weichai Power acquired, as part of a strategic cooperation, 19.9% of Ballard Power Systems for $163 million. The two companies also entered into a joint venture 51% owned by Weichai to supply the Chinese market with PACs.(source)

Ballard Power Systems products

Ballard Power Systems develops PEMFC fuel cells for heavy-duty mobility ranging from 30kW to 200kW.

• Ground transportation modules
  • The FCmove range, from 70 to 100kW, for hydrogen-powered buses and trucks.
  • FCveloCity, with power ratingsof 30, 85 or 100kW, for hydrogen-powered buses, trucks or trains.
• FCwave, the 200kW marine transport module designed to power hydrogen-powered ships.
• Stacks (“raw” set of cells)
  • FCgen-HPS
  • FCgen-LCS
  • FCvelocity-9SSL
  • FCgen-1020ACS
• Stationary systems
  • FCgen-H2PM, for emergency power generation (1-60kW)
  • FCwave, already mentioned (200-1200kW)
  • ClearGen2: container-scale systems capable of generating from one to several MegaWatts.

In all, Ballard is said to have produced 850MW of PEMFC.

Ballard Power Systems in practice

When it comes to hydrogen applications, Ballard is undoubtedly one of the names that comes up most often. They equip several hydrogen bus lines: Solaris, Eldorado (California), Van Hool, Wrightbus and New Flyer buses. Other partnerships include one with Siemens and CRRC (China) to develop 200kW PACs for rail transport, and another with ABB to develop a 1MW PEMFC for marine applications(source)

Other hydrogen-related companies we have mentioned include:

• Hyvia : a joint venture between Renault Group and Plug Power to develop hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles and hydrogen stations.
• Renault Group: one of the world’s leading carmakers, developing hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles.
• Genvia : a joint venture between the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Liten, Schlumberger, Vicat, Vinci Construction and the Occitanie region to develop a reversible high-temperature electrolyzer.