Innovation Norway supports new Hydrogen Mem-Tech product development

From very pure to ultra-pure hydrogen: Hydrogen Mem-Tech has received support from Innovation Norway for an exciting new product.

Innovation Norway helps Norwegian companies to grow sustainably and increase exports by providing access to competence, capital and networks.

Securing support from Innovation Norway proved invaluable to Hydrogen Mem-Tech during our initial start-up phase. It played a crucial role in advancing the development of commercial-scale separators and refining production procedures for our palladium membrane technology.

A robust overall hydrogen strategy should focus on reducing costs and enhancing the efficiency of hydrogen solutions, allowing companies like ours to swiftly enter the market competition without heavy reliance on subsidies.

“While a policy toolkit is essential during a company's founding phase, where research and development take centre stage, the intermediate and often costly pilot stage poses challenges. Our recently received support from Innovation Norway comes at an exciting time for our company”, says CEO Thomas Reinertsen in Hydrogen Mem-Tech.

Our application sought financial backing to design a 2-in-1 separator—a process where hydrogen is extracted in one step and then purified again in a second step. This is similar to distilling things twice. The driving force behind this innovation is to achieve fuel-cell quality for hydrogen in a compact separator.

This approach transitions the hydrogen output from being very pure to ultra-pure. 

Although attainable with two standalone separators, the decision to integrate these steps into a single separator is both cost-effective and space-saving. This integration not only enables us to penetrate new markets, but also to achieve target purity in one vessel—resulting in a 50% reduction in footprint and 25% cost savings.

“Hydrogen holds immense potential as a clean and sustainable energy source, playing a pivotal role in our transition toward a low-carbon society. To realize this potential, hydrogen should constitute a substantial portion of a more renewable energy mix. A collective commitment is needed now to bring this vision to fruition. This is one step on the way, says CEO Thomas Reinertsen.