One of the applications that PCS founder Armand Bergsma is particularly passionate about, is the application of Dutch Energy Solutions – DENS. Passionate for a number of reasons. Therefore – a bit unlike our other application blogs – this one will initially be a bit more personal and elaborate. After all: Technology is not just facts and schematics, it is also emotion and human interaction! Obviously, you may jump down immediately to the more technical part of this post if you prefer that.

What is so special about DENS?

• First of all, Armand is a big supporter of people who have the mindset and energy to combine close-to-genius ideas with commercial insight and an entrepreneurial spirit. And that is exactly what describes the team of DENS, a company that evolved from a student team of the TU/Eindhoven (where Armand briefly studied himself!). DENS mastered to convert a brilliant, yet in hindsight simple idea into a concept that has the potential to become a successful product throughout the world and to actually make it to the market within a foreseeable time.
• Second, it is not only the mindset and spirit of DENS that speaks to Armand’s mind but also the topic of their focus: Renewable energy – a topic that is very close to Armand’s personal interests and the basis of many of his personal choices.
• And third, DENS has been our business relation ever since Pressure Control Solutions started; they were early adopters of the precision pressure control products that we offer the European market (including Equilibar ® back pressure regulators as well as electronic pressure controllers).

What do DENS and Pressure Control Solutions have in common?

Although we wouldn’t dare to compare ourselves to the impressive development of DENS in the short time since their establishment, we do feel somewhat alike in being a relatively small, Dutch and innovative company in our respective sector of industry. We may not be as disruptive as we expect DENS to turn out, we do intend to change industrial automation and process technology when it comes to solving pressure control challenges throughout academia and research institutions, pilot plant companies, and industries like (bio)pharma, food and the chemical industry.

Summarizing: It is fair to say that we admire the energy and innovation that DENS brings to the world with their mission and vision; and that we aim to do some of that ourselves. We happily support their cause and obviously, we love how they use our products while they are at it. In this blog, we will explain a bit more about the pressure control challenge of DENS and how Pressure Control Solutions was able to help solve that.

DENS, their product and their pressure control challenge

DENS’ business proposition fully embraces the necessity for the world to move from fossil fuel to renewable energy. With the below visualization (© DENS), DENS explains why we need alternative energy sources – other than wind and solar – that also have the potential to be stored to avoid shortages at peak times.

As they describe it themselves on their website:
“We have the mission to drastically accelerate the energy transition, by creating highly reliable power sources that provide renewable, zero-emission power any place on the planet. Hydrozine is an energy-dense and liquid energy carrier, consisting of CO₂ and H₂. If produced with renewable electricity, hydrozine is carbon-neutral and has no harmful emissions. Moreover, hydrozine can easily be stored and transported due to its liquid form. The fuel is especially well suited to power applications with high-power consumption or that operate in remote locations. For now, DENS is developing generators that can provide renewable energy, regardless of time and place. In the future DENS’ technology can be applied for other applications such as heavy transport, shipping, and grid stabilization.”

Using hydrozine as the basis for a renewable energy solution is both innovative and practical. It has many advantages over other solutions, like batteries and hydrogen: hydrozine has a higher energy density, in its liquid form it is more compatible with our current energy infrastructure, and is safe as it is neither explosive nor flammable. The emissions from the fuel consumption are the building blocks for the fuel itself, making it 100% renewable.

To be able to make formic acid available to the market on a broad scale as a means to store and convert energy, DENS has developed their current product X2 – this is the first commercialized hydrozine power generator, that does not emit any harmful emissions (zero fossil carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides or soot) or any noise.

In their production process of the X2, DENS have successfully implemented Equilibar® dome loaded back pressure regulators (GS Series) and electronic pressure controllers (DRP70) supplied by Pressure Control Solutions. The DENS X2 generator uses hydrozine as a fuel. With DENS’ reactor, the hydrozine is converted into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This mixture goes through a fuel cell where electric power is generated. The leftover CO2 can be used in the production process of hydrozine, resulting in a no carbon footprint.

To ensure optimum performance the pressure of the reactor must be controlled dynamically depending on the required performance. Equilibar back pressure regulators are used to maintain the reactor’s pressure and fuel cell pressure stable under any and all conditions.

Tijn Swinkels, CTO of DENS:
“Thanks to the Equilibar pressure regulators we have the ability to control our process fast, accurate and reliable”.

Are you curious now to read more about DENS and their WHY? Have a look at their vision and mission page on the website. It may just as well inspire you, too!