3rd HYDRA Webinar
HYDRA and beyond: European innovations in hydrogen monitoring
The 3rd webinar organized by HYDRA project aims to present and discuss the latest European innovations in the field of hydrogen monitoring and safety.
During the session, specific results from the HYDRA project will be illustrated, including technological solutions for hydrogen leakage monitoring and testing activities in confined environments conducted through the deployment of a wind tunnel. The panel will be enriched by prominent international academic contributions: Prof. Nelson Rafael Perozo from the University of Clausthal will present hydrogen tests and safety measures implemented within the DESSERT project, while Ceres Woolley Maisch from Utrecht University will explore the use of isotopic measurements to distinguish between green and blue hydrogen. The event will conclude with a dedicated Q&A session for the audience.
- 07 July 2026 | 10:00 – 11:30 CET
Online
10:00 – 10:05: Welcome/introduction (Rossella Urgnani – Tinexta Innovation Hub)
10:05 – 10:15: HYDRA solution for hydrogen leakage monitoring (Veronica Crognaletti – AUTOMA)
10:15 – 10:35: Testing hydrogen leakages in a confined environment: the deployment of a wind tunnel in the HYDRA project (Raffaella Gerboni – Politecnico di Torino)
10:35 – 10:55: DESSERT project – H2 tests performed along with safety measures implemented (Prof. Nelson Rafael Perozo – Technical University of Clausthal)
10:55 – 11:15: Can we distinguish between green and blue hydrogen with isotopic measurements? (Ceres Woolley Maisch – University of Utrecht)
11:15 – 11:30: Q&A
Biography:
BSc and Master in Physics (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Brescia campus) PhD in Civil, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering (University of Trento) Research fellowship in atmospheric physics (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Brescia campus) Since December 2022 in Tinexta Innovation Hub European Funding Development: creation, drafting and presentation of project proposals in the Horizon Europe, LIFE and EIC programmes Involved in 6 EU projects as Exploitation Manager and HYDRA project technical coordinator.
Biography:
Veronica Crognaletti holds a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering and joined AUTOMA in 2020 as part of the Process Control Division.
Her academic background has provided her with strong technical and analytical skills, which she applies to process management and quality assurance activities. Within AUTOMA, she supports management system implementation and compliance activities.
A significant part of her work focuses on Research & Development projects, where she is actively involved throughout the entire project lifecycle—from proposal writing and consortium building to project management, reporting activities, and post-funding monitoring. She supports the coordination of European and national R&D initiatives, ensuring compliance with technical, administrative, and regulatory requirements while fostering effective collaboration among project partners and stakeholders. Through this role, she has gained extensive experience in translating innovative ideas into funded projects and supporting their successful implementation and long-term impact.
She also contributes to sustainability and continuous improvement initiatives, supporting the alignment of internal processes and documentation with applicable standards and organizational objectives.
Abstract:
The increasing adoption of hydrogen as a key energy carrier requires reliable monitoring solutions capable of ensuring safe operation across hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and end-use applications. Early and accurate detection of hydrogen leakages is essential to support the deployment of hydrogen technologies and mitigate potential safety risks.
Within this context, the HYDRA project has developed an innovative hydrogen leakage monitoring solution based on Raman spectroscopy, enabling the selective detection and quantification of hydrogen and other gases without sample preparation. The development process started from a comprehensive analysis of operational, safety, and environmental requirements, including HAZOP assessments, site inspections, and compliance with ATEX regulations, to define the specifications of the monitoring system.
This presentation will provide an overview of the HYDRA monitoring solution, focusing on its design and implementation. Particular attention will be given to the system architecture, including the sampling unit, the Raman-based optical sensing unit, and the data processing platform, as well as the engineering choices adopted to address safety, reliability, and deployment requirements in hydrogen environments. The presentation will also discuss the main challenges encountered during the development phase and the solutions implemented to achieve a robust and scalable monitoring system for future hydrogen infrastructures.
Biography:
Raffaella Gerboni is a technical staff member at Politecnico di Torino, where she has worked for over 25 years in research, teaching support, and laboratory activities.
She holds a degree in Nuclear Engineering and a PhD in Energetics from Politecnico di Torino.
She currently serves as Domain Expert in Nuclear Plants at the Department of Energy, at PoliTO.
Her profile combines technical expertise, experimental work, and applied research in energy systems, nuclear plants, safety, and sustainability.
Since 2016, she has coordinated technical and research-support activities related to offshore oil and gas safety, energy systems, and transport systems.
In this context, she coordinates activities at the SEADOG laboratory and supports experimental work at the SEASTAR-WT wind tunnel, located at Environment Park in Turin.
Her work includes the development of laboratory facilities, the preparation and execution of experimental campaigns, and the support of research activities.
She has contributed to studies on hydrogen technologies, fuel cells, renewable energy systems, nuclear technologies, environmental assessment, and risk analysis.
Alongside her technical and research activities, she has extensive experience in teaching and educational support at Politecnico di Torino.
Her teaching-related work includes classroom activities, laboratory-based training, thesis supervision, and support for students involved in experimental and applied research projects.
She is the author or co-author of 75 scientific publications, including journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters.
Abstract:
The safe deployment of hydrogen technologies requires not only reliable monitoring systems, but also experimental facilities capable of reproducing representative release and dispersion scenarios under controlled and safe conditions. Within the HYDRA project, the SEASTAR-WT wind tunnel laboratory at Politecnico di Torino was used to test the AUTOMA HYDRA sensor under controlled hydrogen release conditions, with the aim of assessing its functionality, repeatability, and sensitivity to different dispersion regimes.
The SEASTAR-WT facility, located at Environment Park in Turin, supports experimental studies on gas dispersion, fluid dynamics, and safety engineering. For the HYDRA campaign, the wind tunnel and scaled mock-up were adapted for hydrogen testing in compliance with ATEX requirements, including dedicated safety procedures, hydrogen-compatible components, ventilation, gas detection, grounding measures, and operational limits on release pressure, nozzle diameter, and wind speed.
Preliminary CFD simulations were used to guide the definition of safe and meaningful test conditions and to support the positioning of the sensor sampling terminal. The campaign investigated different configurations, including an urban-like congested setup, a tunnel-like confined geometry, a high-atmosphere diluted release condition, and a hydrogen–methane mixture representative of hydrogen-enriched natural gas applications.
The presentation will describe the wind tunnel layout, the mock-up and gas release system, the main safety upgrades, the test matrix, the experimental configurations adopted for controlled hydrogen release testing and some key results of the campaign.
Biography:
Nelson Perozo completed his Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering, followed by Master studies and PhD in Petroleum Engineering. He is a researcher and project engineer at the Institute of Subsurface Energy Systems belonging to the Clausthal University of Technology in Germany. Expertise in the oil and gas production, and the mechanical testing of OCTG under combined loads. Recently researches are focused on the hydrogen compatibility with completion materials.
Abstract:
The project DESSERT (Advanced thread connected production string for hydrogen storage in underground formations) dedicates to the development and experimental validation of a new design of a tubing string to be implemented in underground hydrogen storage applications. The pipeline and its connections have been conceived not only to maintain a gas tight operation during its service life, taking into account the dynamics of the loads acting on the string, but also to avoid the presence of hydrogen embrittlement, reason why the material selection represents a critical aspect of the design process.
To assess the performance and integrity of the proposed string, an Adhoc experimental program has been established comprising both laboratory-scale and upscaled tests, in which test procedures replicating the service conditions of tubing strings implemented in well completions have been created.
Given the challenges associated with high pressure hydrogen testing, safety measures have been deployed in order to perform the tests safely. In particular, an automated monitoring and control system has been developed to detect deviations from prescribed operating conditions and to initiate appropriate responses in the event of anomalies or leakage occurrence.
The presentation will mainly show the tests carried out during the DESSERT project as well as the safety measures implemented to guarantee the safe operation along the test program.
Biography:
Ceres Woolley Maisch is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Utrecht University, NL. With a background in Physics, Ceres completed her PhD in the UK at Royal Holloway University of London, her research focused on methane source attribution using isotopic measurements. Now, she is part of a large collaborative project which aims to quantify emission rates of molecular hydrogen across the value chain. Additionally, she carried on researching isotopes, and is also working on source attribution of hydrogen.
Abstract:
The global hydrogen value chain, including H₂ production, transport, storage, and end use, is expanding rapidly worldwide, both globally and in Europe. There are multiple methods for hydrogen production, including electrolysis (so-called green hydrogen) and steam methane reformation (SMR), often with carbon capture on-site (blue/grey hydrogen). Stable isotopic composition measurements can be used to constrain the source and sink terms in the budgets of atmospheric trace gases. The δD-H₂ signatures can be used for source partitioning of atmospheric H₂. While literature suggests that isotopic measurements could be utilised as a regulatory tool for the hydrogen economy in order to verifying the production method of hydrogen, there are very few real-world measurements to date.
Here, we present new data from in situ atmospheric air samples collected at infrastructure sites in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany. Samples were taken at combustion sources, a refinery, electrolysers, SMRs, and hydrogen refuelling stations. In the laboratory, we utilise continuous-flow isotope analysis of the D/H ratio. We find that δD-H₂ source signatures from SMRs and combustion sources align with previous literature estimates. However, unlike previously suggested, we find that H₂ produced in electrolysers overlaps in isotope signature with H₂ from SMRs and exhibits a very wide spread in δD-H₂. Therefore, δD-H₂ may not allow for unambiguous identification of green H2 due to differing production processes.