Abstract: Hydrogen energy, which is clean and sustainable, is becoming an important part of the future energy systems around the world. Hydrogen energy is also an important technological pathway for achieving global decarbonizaton. Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the most important technical ways for hydrogen energy utilization. Ensuring hydrogen quality is a key factor in the long-term efficient and safe operation of PEMFC. The key to hydrogen quality is the control of impurities in hydrogen. The paper summarizes the requirements of PEMFC for hydrogen quality, introduces the overview of hydrogen detection technology and standards used in PEMFC at home and abroad, and the research progress of SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing Co. Ltd.(RIPP) in PEMFC hydrogen impurity detection technology. The pre-concentration coupled GC/SCD/MS scheme developed by RIPP enables simultaneous determination of sulfur-containing compounds, formaldehyde, and organic chlorides in hydrogen gas through a single injection. The detection limits for H2S, formaldehyde, and CH3Cl are 0.01 nmol/mol, 0.1 nmol/mol, and 0.5 nmol/mol, respectively. The proposed GC/TCD/FID scheme can quickly determine He, Ar, N2 and hydrocarbon compounds in hydrogen. The proposed GC-PDHID method for CO2 and CO in hydrogen contains a multi-valves multi-columns system to effectively solve the problem of background interference, with a low detection limit of 50 nmol/mol. Determination of trace ammonia in hydrogen for PEMFC by cavity ring-down spectroscopy was proposed which detection limit was 1.8 nmol/mol. Based on research analytical methods, a series of group and national standards for impurities detection in PEMFC hydrogen had been developed. The methods had been used in impurities tracing source in different hydrogen production processes. A hydrogen energy testing laboratory was established which had been applied in hydrogen quality monitoring for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Key words: hydrogen energy, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, impurity detection, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry