Keeps hydrogen indside until it needs to be let out

Swagelok is a service provider as well as system and component supplier. It all started 75 years ago with the first leak-free fitting on the market, and since then Swagelok has produced leak-free tube fittings and components for large parts of, among other things, the oil and gas industry. Now Swagelok Denmark will connect parts of the Danish hydrogen industry with their components and leakage free fittings.

Esbjerg is a hydrogen and Power-to-X (PtX) hotspot these days, where new hydrogen and PtX projects are announced almost on a monthly basis. Swagelok Denmark, with its office in Esbjerg and 14 employees, is located in the right place to tap into the rapid developments that are taking place in the hydrogen and PtX area.

Among other things, Swagelok produces components for connecting tubing and other components, and their product catalog includes a large selection of fittings, valves, regulators, manometers and much more. The two most important benchmarks in Swagelok’s work are that they can guarantee that their components are leak-free as long as they are fitted correctly and that everything that leaves the factory is thoroughly tested so that the quality is assured and among the highest on the market.

New to the hydrogen field – but not inexperienced

Swagelok, which is an American-owned family business, has approx. 10,000 employees worldwide. After many years of experience in the traditional industrial markets, where tubing and components must be connected to each other, such as. petrochemicals and the oil and gas industry, the family business is now ready to start supplying components to the hydrogen and PtX industries:

“It is only natural for us to expand our market to the hydrogen industry. From the oil and gas industry, we know, and we have extensive experience of, what it takes to make systems and components that meet enormously high safety and quality requirements, and that must be able to withstand both high and low pressure, without leaks occur, ”says Peter Thomsen, sales manager for Swagelok Denmark.

Although the hydrogen industry is an industry in which Swagelok would like to expand its presence, the company has already participated in and supplied components for essential parts of several hydrogen projects. Peter Thomsen can not tell about the specific projects, but he can state that Swagelok already delivered fittings to the first Danish pioneer companies in hydrogen. Today, many more have been added, including Everfuel, where Swagelok provides solutions with fittings and valves for Everfuel’s HySynergy project.

Safety in the forefront

Peter Thomsen emphasizes that Swagelok’s biggest priority is safety. This means that in addition to the employees following courses in the design of safe hydrogen systems, the products are tested and certified according to the strictest requirements and norms on the market. Peter Thomson elaborates:

“We test all our components before leaving the factory. Specifically with hydrogen, we have several products that have been tested and approved for hydrogen vehicles. When using fittings in vehicles, there are great demands that they can withstand vibrations and shocks in traffic without the connections becoming leaky. In addition, there are requirements that you must be able to disassemble and reassemble the components, after which it must still be leak-free. Our products operate under these extreme conditions, which means that our customers can be safe when using Swagelok components in their systems, where there will generally be fewer vibrations and shock effects than there are in vehicles. ”

Collaborates with customers

Swagelok makes a virtue out of getting to know the needs of its customers. Peter Thomsen elaborates: “We strive to know and understand the market we are active in, why we get to know our customers’ business and those of their products, which we would like to supply components for, whether it is electrolysis equipment, hydrogen filling stations , or something completely different. We talk to customers, and preferably already when they are in the R&D phase, so that we can possibly suggest improvements in the design, for example by moving components around, so that installation is easier, cheaper or safer.”

The reason why Swagelok can contribute to the customers’ design process is that most employees have a technical background, such as engineers, machinists or the like. The high professionalism means that Swagelok can quickly understand the customers’ needs and thus become an active player in getting the customers’ products optimized, so that both the customer and Swagelok benefit from the collaboration.

Swagelok’s goal is to become the preferred supplier of systems and components to the Danish hydrogen industry, and live up to their reputation for high safety and good working relationships, says Peter Thomsen: “We believe that through cooperation we can learn from each other and that we thus, together with our customers, can lift the industry to a new level.”