The alkaline system will operate at Bodycote’s Rancho Dominguez site where it services products for aerospace, defence, automotive, and energy sectors.

The company will use hydrogen produced by the system to decarbonise and reduce operational costs of heat-treatment processes like annealing vacuum, heat treatment, and diffusion bonding.

Hydrogen is already used to provide a protective and reducing atmosphere in annealing, while it reduces surface oxides during diffusion bonding.

Bodycote claims by shifting to onsite hydrogen production, rather than relying on regular deliveries of the gas, it could cut costs and emissions.

It plans to deploy more Hgen systems across other sites.

Hgen, a start-up made up of former Tesla and SpaceX engineers, manufactures small-scale pressurised alkaline electrolysers specifically for industrial gas applications like chemicals, metallurgy, and semiconductors.

The start-up claims its containerised system has a power density 20 times that of an equivalent alkaline system, and can maintain operation and durability even with intermittent renewable power.

In September 2024 the firm received $5m in funding to accelerate commercialisation of the onsite electrolysers.

Molly Yang, CEO of Hgen, said that its technology eliminates gas compression, transport, and storage for users, allowing Bodycote to reduce gas costs while advancing sustainability goals.

Hydrogen’s consumer price is highly influenced by storage and transportation costs. In settings far from centralised merchant hydrogen plants, onsite electrolysis can stack up economically, despite its higher production costs.