This station is to be built as part of the AltHyTude Project, led by Gaz de France, as announced last year at the World Hydrogen Economy Congress in Lyon (France). AltHyTude aims to test the operation of buses fuelled with a blend of natural gas and hydrogen in the cities of Dunkirk and Toulouse.

HyGear combines its Highly Integrated Steam Reforming (HISR) technology with PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) technology in its Hydrogen Generation Systems. HyGear’s Hydrogen Generation Systems typically consist of a fuel preparation module; fuel processing reactor or steam reformer; a pressure swing adsorption module; and a control box.

Earlier this year, HyGear finalized the initial field test of its HGS-V product, a 5 Nm³/hr on-site Hydrogen Generation System. The field test consisted of more then 10,000 hours of testing under customer defined conditions. In February 2007, HyGear realized a MTBF of more than 3,000 hours for the unit. Over the last several months of testing, availability was 100%, up from 90% in 2006.

HyGear is also a partner in the EU’s SOLREF Solar Steam Reforming Project. The main purpose of SOLREF is to develop a 400 kW_th solar reformer for several applications such as Hydrogen production or electricity generation.

Because the needed process heat for the highly endothermic reforming reaction is provided by concentrated solar energy, process CO₂ emissions can be reduced significantly depending upon the feedstock (up to 40% when using natural gas).

The project is also tasked with the pre-design of a 1 MW_th prototype plant in Southern Italy and the conceptual layout of a commercial 50 MW_th reforming plant.

HyGear also participates in HY2SEPS, another EU research project the main goal of which is the development of a hybrid membrane / Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) H₂/CO₂ separation process, which will be part of a fossil fuel decarbonization process used for pre-combustion CO₂ capture.