As both global energy demands and desire to decarbonize the environment increase, there will be an inevitable diversification needed in the energy portfolio. Hydrogen has the potential to play a key role. However, there are unique challenges associated with the production, transportation and utilization of hydrogen and how it interacts with materials that need to be addressed. One such opportunity is coatings technologies. Coating evaluation is an essential step in the development of a safe and reliable hydrogen gas pipeline, unfortunately, there is the lack of published test methods to examine the effect of coated steel substrates to hydrogen exposure under laboratory simulated conditions.

Research efforts are currently directed towards developing a standard test method to assess the efficacy of coatings to protect steel exposed to varying environmental conditions, which is important to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the pipelines and other assets. Therefore, in 2022, a group was created by AMPP (AMPP TR21558) to prepare a detailed technical report on the current state- of-the -art technologies to understand the role of coating in mitigating the effects of Hydrogen Embrittlement. The report is being prepared by a cross-functional team from various AMPP committees (SC04, SC08 and SC15) including metallurgists, engineers, chemists, scientists, and operators.

This paper presents the challenges related to implementing coating for hydrogen pipelines, an update on AMPP TR21558 technical report and will discuss the currently proposed test protocol for testing coatings for internal application of hydrogen gas pipelines and its preliminary results which was published by the authors in 2022. It also outlines future research projects planned towards addressing technology gaps in understanding performance of coatings in cyclical process environments during hydrogen service.