Development of Innovating Materials for Distributing Mixtures of Hydrogen and Natural Gas. Study of the Barrier Properties and Durability of Polymer Pipes

With the growing place taken by hydrogen, a question still remains about its delivery and transport from the production site to the end user by employing the existing extensive natural gas pipelines. Indeed, the key challenge is the significant H-2 permeation through polymer infrastructures (PolyEthylene (PE) pipes, components such as connecting parts). This high flow rate of H-2 through PE has to be taken into account for safety and economic requirements. A 3-year project was launched, the aim of which was to develop and assess material solutions to cope with present problems for hydrogen gas distribution and to sustain higher pressure compared to classical high density polyethylene pipe. This project investigated pure hydrogen gas and mixtures with natural gas (20% of CH4 and 80% of H-2) in pipelines with the aim to select engineering polymers which are more innovative than polyethylene and show outstanding properties, in terms of permeation, basic mechanical tests but also more specific characterizations such as long term ageing and behaviour. The adequate benches, equipments and scientific approach for materials testing had been developed and validated. In this context, the paper will focus on the evaluation of the barrier properties of 3 polymers (PE, PA11 and PAHM). Experiments were performed for pure H-2 and CH4 and also in the presence of mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas in order to study the possible mixing effects of gases. It will report some round-robin tests that have been carried out. Secondly, by comparing data obtained on film, polymer membrane and on pipe section, the influence of the polymer processing will be studied. Innovative multilayers systems will be proposed and compared on the basis of the results obtained on monolayer systems. Finally, the evolution of the transport properties of the studied polymers with an ageing under representative service conditions will be discussed.