As one of the leading manufacturers of premium-quality welded and drawn stainless steel tubes on the European market, Schoeller Werk GmbH & Co. KG is positioning itself as a pioneer in the use of hydrogen and hydrogen application.
Green hydrogen is becoming the energy source of the future. As base material for power-to-X processes, it will be used in fuel cells or hydrogen combustion engines, but also in industrial applications ranging from electrolyzers and heat exchangers to large-scale production plants, e.g. to produce basic chemicals such as green ammonia or green methanol. All systems and components used in the application of green hydrogen require hydrogen-resistant properties.
Stainless steel tubes in application-specific grades play a key role, as they are used along the entire process and energy chain. They must be permanently resistant to hydrogen embrittlement, temperature fluctuations and fatigue under dynamic load at increased operating pressures.
TÜV Süd has now confirmed that the material and tube portfolio of Schoeller, the premium manufacturer from Hellenthal, fully complies with the newly developed standard for “material resistance to pressurized hydrogen”. Both longitudinally welded and redrawn stainless steel tubes made from materials 1.4401, 14404 and 1.4435 have been certified, meaning that both tube versions are approved for low-pressure applications, e.g. for industrial applications, as well as for high-pressure applications up to 875 bar, such as those found in the automotive sector.
“Based on our decades of material expertise and the resulting approvals, we have received the TÜV Süd certificate without any further requirements for our production and testing processes. We consider this as confirmation of the high development standards in our company,” says Werner Hannig, Head of Quality & Development at Schoeller.
Upon receiving TÜV certification, Schoeller has positioned itself as a competent partner for the application of the future energy source hydrogen alongside the automotive industry. As a long-standing supplier to the automotive industry, Schoeller has extensive know-how in the manufacture of stainless steel tubes for fuel-carrying line systems, distribution tubes and injection systems. At the same time, Schoeller is a supplier for industrial applications such as the energy sector with offshore applications, heat exchangers or medical, refrigeration and air conditioning technology. Schoeller will now make targeted use of this industry expertise to position itself in the field of hydrogen.
“Due to the high complexity of hydrogen, we see a great need for advice on materials and applications among all our customers. We have therefore pooled all our product and material expertise in our “Quality & Development” department. This allows our customers to benefit from our problem-solving competence, materials expertise, and ability to innovate. Together with our customers, we want to develop individual solutions for specific requirements,” says Hannig.