H2 Clipper has been granted a US patent for a new technology that solves the “last mile” problem of hydrogen distribution while maintaining hydrogen purity.
The patent for the company’s Pipe-Within-A-Pipe technology covers the system, method, and apparatus for transporting hydrogen up to 1,000 miles safely and efficiently inside virtually any existing oil and gas pipeline, water pipe, sewer line, storm drain, or other pipeline. This ground-breaking technology is the safest, most cost-effective, most easily deployable, and scalable way to deliver fuel cell grade hydrogen to end users.
Underneath almost every major city on the planet, such lines can be found. The problem of distributing fuel cell grade hydrogen from regional depots and local production facilities to where it can be used as a carbon-free replacement for gasoline, diesel, natural gas, and other fossil fuels is solved by having a reliable way to safely use them to distribute pure hydrogen.
The patent’s novel approach makes use of flexible pipe that has been certified by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for hydrogen use and has a 50-year useful life at 2500 psi. That pipe is housed inside a larger diameter pipe known as a “safety pipe,” which has an inert gas running through it to constantly sweep for hydrogen molecules. The new technology, which can maintain purity levels of 99.7% or higher, will aid in ensuring the required purity levels for use of hydrogen in fuel cell electric cars, buses, trucks, and locomotives.
H2 Clipper Founder and CEO, Rinaldo Brutoco, said, “With the safety pipe, sweeper gas, and our proprietary continuous monitoring system in place, hydrogen can be run inside nearly any existing pipeline without interfering with the continued commercial use of that line. Our Pipe-Within-A-Pipe will save companies and governments hundreds of billions of dollars by avoiding the construction of new hydrogen pipelines or retrofitting existing ones for hydrogen. Taken together, these measures will dramatically accelerate the hydrogen economy, which is our mission and commitment at H2 Clipper.”
To deploy the technology as quickly as possible, H2 Clipper plans to collaborate with existing pipeline companies, pipe manufacturers, and large utility system integrators. H2 Clipper’s patent was also filed under the International Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), allowing the company to secure protection in over 130 countries. The company plans to file corresponding patents for all EU countries, as well as the United Kingdom, Australia, Korea, Japan, and China, in the near future.
H2 Clipper’s other patented technology, a modern airship fleet dubbed a “Pipeline-In-The-Sky,” is currently the most efficient and scalable end-to-end and long-distance hydrogen transportation system in the world. The two patented innovations work together to provide a complete infrastructure solution for long-distance hydrogen transport and “last mile” distribution around the world.
