Hydrogen Conversion Calculator

H2 Calculator

Calculate H2 Mass

Instructions: Use the circles on the left to select which variable you would like to calculate.
Then enter your values and select units for each, including the variable being calculated.
Use the Contact tab if you see something wrong.
Solve for:
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H2 Purge Cycles

Pressure-swing purging: pressurise the vessel with H2, vent it, then repeat. Each cycle dilutes whatever was left behind by the ratio of the two pressures.
Enter absolute pressure, not gauge — add about 1 bar / 14.7 psi to a gauge reading.
Vessel
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Pressures (absolute)
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Purity (% H2)
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Settled Pressure

A tank filled quickly comes out warm from compression, and the pressure falls as it cools. Enter a pressure with the temperature it was measured at, then the temperature you want it at.
Tank volume does not matter here — it cancels out.
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Fill Amount

How much hydrogen moved between two states in the same vessel. A negative result means gas was removed.
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Energy & Range

Energy stored in a mass of hydrogen. LHV excludes the latent heat of the water produced and is how fuel cells are normally rated; HHV includes it.
Efficiency and consumption are optional — fill both in to also get range.
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About this calculator

This calculator is just a basic tool made to easily figure out the volume or mass of hydrogen at pressure.
Boyle's law is fine and dandy until the pressures get higher and start to deviate from the actual value.

The base calculation comes from the paper, "Revised Standardized Equation for Hydrogen Gas Densities for Fuel Consumption Applications" (link) by Eric W. Lemmon, Marcia L. Huber (National Institute of Standards and Technology), and Jacob W. Leachman (University of Wisconsin-Madison Cryogenics Lab); published in the Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, dated July 22, 2008.
Calculation simplified in order to be able to calculate mass, volume, pressure, or temperature using various units.
The equation is solved directly for mass and volume. Pressure and temperature cannot be isolated algebraically — both appear inside several fractional powers — so those are found numerically instead, by searching for the value that reproduces the figures you entered.

Valid range. Results are only meaningful for gaseous hydrogen roughly between 200–1200 K and up to about 200 MPa. Outside that the underlying correlation is being extrapolated and the numbers should not be trusted. When solving for pressure or temperature the calculator only searches inside that range.

Disclaimer

This calculator is provided free of charge, as is and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of accuracy, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Results may be wrong. The equation is an approximation, it is applied here in a simplified form, and the implementation may contain errors. Do not rely on these numbers for anything involving safety, regulatory compliance, custody transfer, or engineering decisions without verifying them independently against an authoritative source and the judgement of a qualified engineer.

Hydrogen is flammable over a very wide range in air, ignites with very little energy, and is stored at pressures that are dangerous on their own. Purging and handling procedures must come from your own competent safety assessment, not from a web page.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the author accepts no liability for any loss, injury, or damage of any kind arising from use of this calculator or reliance on its output. You use it entirely at your own risk.

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