Hydrogen Consulting and Engineering

River Energy Solutions is a hydrogen safety consultant and process engineering firm serving clients across the US and Canada, with PE licensure in California, Illinois, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Washington, from early feasibility through detailed design, commissioning support, and ongoing safety compliance. We are engineers who have spent our careers on fuel cells, electrolyzers, compressed gases, and hydrogen systems, and we built a firm around that experience. Our principal, Allen Adriani, P.E., serves on the NFPA 2 Hydrogen Technologies Code and NFPA 497 committees.

Hydrogen Consulting for Owners, Developers and Equipment Manufacturers

River Energy Solutions is a hydrogen engineering company built around one question: will this system be safe, code-compliant and buildable as drawn? Clients bring us in at different points in a project. Some call at the concept stage to size storage and settle a site layout. Others call when a permit application has stalled, when an insurer asks for a hazard review, or when equipment has already been delivered and does not meet the code requirements for the space it was bought for.

Typical engagements include:

• Feasibility studies and site layouts for hydrogen production, storage and fueling
• Process design, P&IDs and PE-stamped drawings
• Independent design and code reviews for owners, insurers and permitting authorities
• HAZOP facilitation and management of change
• Owner's engineer support through construction and commissioning

Hydrogen Process and Equipment Engineering

Most engineering problems on a hydrogen project are either solved in the design phase or discovered, at much greater cost, after installation. We work with developers, operators, and facility managers to get the engineering right before construction starts. In some cases, we are contacted to fix other engineers’ mistakes.

Our work spans the full hydrogen system:

Liquid and gaseous hydrogen storage.

We design storage systems for both LH2 and high-pressure gaseous hydrogen, optimizing capacity, layout, and boil-off management against NFPA 2 requirements and local codes. One detail most engineers miss is air condensing on cold surfaces, explained below. We design against that from day one, not as an afterthought. We also plan personnel egress paths and ventilation, especially on sites that require walls. We have seen engineers specify walls where none were required; had we been involved from the start, that client would have saved significant design and installation cost.

The extremely low temperature of liquid hydrogen (−423°F) causes ambient air to condense and liquefy on uninsulated surfaces. Air is composed of nitrogen (boiling point −320°F) and oxygen (boiling point −297°F), so oxygen condenses and liquefies more readily than nitrogen, creating an oxygen-enriched layer on the surface of cryogenic piping. In some cases, such as the one in the video linked below, oxygen can drip from the pipe. This is a serious fire risk. Oxygen greatly increases the flammability of nearby materials such as asphalt and other organic materials. Oxygen-soaked asphalt and organic material can ignite from impact or friction, even without a spark.

Video: air condensing on a cryogenic LH2 pipe

Hydrogen compression.

We work with multiple compressor manufacturers to develop design specifications, and we support clients with vendor selection, quality reviews, and factory acceptance testing.

Hydrogen vent stack and atmospheric dispersion.

When hydrogen must be vented, the design has to account for overpressure protection, hazardous area identification, thermal radiation, building intakes, and code compliance simultaneously. Starting in 2026, NFPA 2 requires plume dispersion analysis for Class I, Division 2 areas, including normal operations, LH2 blowdowns, and maintenance venting. We do this analysis in-house as part of our hydrogen consulting, not as an add-on.

A noisy vent stack can be more than an inconvenience; it can violate local noise ordinances. Cryogenic tanks continuously boil off part of their contents, and that gas must be vented, which can create noise at the discharge, often most noticeable to neighbors at night. Nearby work areas must also stay within OSHA noise exposure limits. We have experience specifying vent and compressor silencers to address both.

Fuel cell and electrolyzer balance of plant.

The stack is usually the best-engineered part of a fuel cell or electrolyzer system. The problems tend to show up in everything around it: water treatment, cooling loops, gas drying and purification, vent and purge piping, enclosure ventilation, and the controls that tie it all together. We engineer that balance of plant for stationary fuel cell power plants and for PEM, alkaline and AEM electrolyzers. The work runs from equipment selection and P&IDs through heat and material balances, relief and vent sizing, and hazardous area classification of the enclosure under NFPA 497 and NFPA 2. Our engineers have worked on fuel cell systems from the manufacturer's side, so we know where field installations most often go wrong.

Hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

We engineer hydrogen fueling systems for vehicle and forklift applications: dispenser layout, supply system design, hazardous area classification, and safety system integration. We have worked with operators running Plug Power GenDrive systems across multiple facilities and understand what reliable forklift fueling infrastructure actually requires in practice.

Hydrogen fuel cell forklifts.

Hydrogen fuel cell forklifts are now operating at scale across some of the largest warehouse and distribution networks in North America. Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Uline, FedEx,  BMW, Bridgestone, Sysco, Southwire,  Freezpak, Floor & Decor, and dozens of other leading companies have made hydrogen-powered material handling a core part of their logistics operations.

Compared to battery-electric forklifts, hydrogen fuel cells offer two-minute refueling versus fifteen or more minutes for battery swap, consistent power output across a full shift, and reliable performance in cold storage environments where batteries degrade. At the scale these companies operate, those advantages translate directly into labor efficiency, throughput, and total cost of ownership.

But deploying hydrogen fuel cell forklifts requires more than procurement. It requires a hydrogen supply system that is correctly sized, safely designed, and reliably integrated with your facility operations. That is where River Energy Solutions comes in with hydrogen engineering consulting.

Hydrogen fueling for buses, forklifts, and vehicles

• Dispenser layout and throughput design — station count, placement, and capacity matched to fleet size and shift structure
• Hydrogen demand analysis — fleet size, shift patterns, refueling cycles, and peak demand calculation
• Storage system selection and sizing — gaseous versus liquid hydrogen, pressure specifications, and footprint optimization
• Tube trailer and bulk liquid delivery logistics — supplier qualification, delivery frequency, and on-site inventory management
• On-site hydrogen generation evaluation — electrolyzer sizing and integration for facilities with sufficient electricity supply and volume to justify on-site production
• Utility requirements — electrical supply for dispensers, compressors, controls, and safety systems
• Piping and instrumentation design — P&ID development for hydrogen supply, vaporization, compression, and dispensing systems
• Pressure regulation and compression system specification
• Ventilation and detection system design — hydrogen sensor placement, ventilation rates, and emergency shutdown integration
• Civil and structural requirements — equipment pads, barriers, setback distances, and facility modification scope
• Fire alarm design integrated with existing facility systems.

Installation planning and owner's engineering

• Contractor bid package development — scope of work, technical specifications, and equipment datasheets for procurement
• EPC and contractor technical review — evaluation of installation contractor qualifications and design submittals
• Construction inspection and commissioning support — technical oversight during installation and system startup
• Operator training support — hydrogen safety, fueling procedures, and emergency response documentation

Hydrogen process safety - HAZOP, MOC, and OSHA PSM

Hydrogen safety consulting.

Hydrogen safety consulting is more than a HAZOP. Many of the problems we find are physical and specific to the site: a vent stack that discharges near a building air intake, a gas detector mounted where leaking hydrogen will never reach it, a purge procedure that assumes nitrogen is on hand when it is not, or an enclosure exhaust placed low on the wall instead of at the high point. We walk the site, review the drawings and procedures against NFPA 2, the International Fire Code and the manufacturer's requirements, and give you a written list of findings with practical fixes. When a fire marshal or insurer is involved, we can review the findings with them directly.

Hydrogen carries specific hazards that generic process safety approaches underestimate. The flammability range runs from 4% to 75% in air. Ignition energy is less than one-tenth that of natural gas. In enclosed spaces, hydrogen collects at the ceiling, where detectors mounted lower may not see a leak until a flammable layer has formed.

We provide OSHA PSM support for hydrogen processes at or above the 10,000-pound threshold quantity, and for smaller facilities where the hazards justify it regardless of regulatory obligation:

• Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) and HAZOP
• Management of Change (MOC) review
• Pre-Startup Safety Reviews (PSSR)
• Operating procedure development
• Mechanical integrity support
• Incident investigation
• Emergency planning and response
• Ignition source control

See our HAZOP service →

See our MOC service →

Codes and standards we work to

Hydrogen design requires fluency in a specific set of codes that most engineering firms encounter rarely. We work to these standards regularly:

• NFPA 2: Hydrogen Technologies Code (including 2026 updates)
• NFPA 55: Compressed Gases and Cryogenic Fluids (for gases other than hydrogen)
• OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119: Process Safety Management
• EPA 40 CFR Part 68: Risk Management Program
• IFC: International Fire Code
• SAE J2601: Hydrogen fueling protocols
• ASME pressure vessel and piping codes
• And many others

We coordinate directly with Authorities Having Jurisdiction across the US and Canada, including permit support, technical documentation, and fire marshal review.

Who we work with and who supports us

We work with developers, industrial operators, logistics companies, utilities, and infrastructure investors across the US and Canada. We are members of AIChE and the National Fire Protection Association, and are active in the local business community through the Danbury Chamber of Commerce.

We partner with FP2Fire and Marchetti Consulting Engineers on projects requiring complementary disciplines (fire protection, civil, structural, and electrical), so clients get a complete hydrogen engineering package without the overhead of a large firm.

Let us know how our Hydrogen Engineering Consulting services can support your project!

You will speak directly with the engineers who will do the work — not an account manager or project coordinator.

 

info@riverenergysolutions.com

P.O. Box 778, Botsford, CT 06404

 

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