BEBLUE Cryotech

BEBLUE Cryotech is a Belgian engineering company in Liège that tests parts and materials in cryogenic and hydrogen conditions. It also designs, builds and runs custom test rigs.

The company says it is a strategic provider of cryogenic testing in Europe. It works in three areas: component and system testing, material characterisation and engineering services. Its test centre sits in the Liège Sciences Park at Sart Tilman. The shared site has several test rigs, fluid storage tanks and purpose-built buildings, and it can run more than 700 sensors and measurement lines.

Component and system testing is its core business. BEBLUE runs configurable rigs that test bearings, dynamic seals, injectors, valves and pumps, including electric and turbo pumps. The tests use high-pressure cryogenic fluid with high flow rates and loads from all directions. The rigs carry many sensors for pressure, vibration, humidity, temperature and speed, placed in hard-to-reach spots. A newer hydrogen service tests valves, pumps and tanks. It also tests PEM and SOFC fuel cells and complete fuel cell systems under a wide range of operating conditions.

For material characterisation, BEBLUE offers pin-on-disk friction and wear tests in liquid and gaseous nitrogen and oxygen. It runs liquid oxygen impact tests and auto-ignition tests up to 550 degrees Celsius at 120 bar. It can test materials and parts under up to 1,000 bar in adiabatic compression. A new platform measures tensile and fatigue properties in cryogenic or gaseous hydrogen, from 20 kelvin up to ambient temperature.

The test rigs can use hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, helium and hydrogen peroxide, with methane and liquid hydrogen planned. BEBLUE also helps companies build their own cryogenic test capability, with project management, test management, test rig design and integration, and reporting.

Its markets are academic research, maritime, e-mobility including aviation, and space. The facility has close ties to the University of Liège, and the company says its test centre is recognised by the European Space Agency. Partners shown include the University of Mons, the Free University of Brussels, the European Space Agency, Belspo and the Walloon Region.

Services

• Cryogenic component testing
• Hydrogen testing
• Fuel cell testing
• Material characterisation
• Pin-on-disk friction and wear testing
• Oxygen impact testing
• Auto-ignition testing
• Adiabatic compression testing
• Cryogenic tensile and fatigue testing
• Test rig design and engineering