Bodycote, a provider of advanced heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services, has deployed an onsite hydrogen generation system from Hgen at its Rancho Dominguez facility in California, U.S. The new system will deliver a cleaner, more resilient, and lower-cost hydrogen supply while contributing to sustainability and decarbonization objectives.

Hydrogen is an essential industrial gas used in Bodycote’s precision heat treatment and surface coating technologies, treating metal and metal-alloy components for the aerospace, defense, automotive and energy sectors. This installation provides a lower-cost, lower-emissions solution.

The new system at Rancho Dominguez generates hydrogen at the point of use from electricity and water, eliminating impacts associated with bulk hydrogen transportation, distribution, and vendor handling and reducing associated emissions by more than 90%. It will also help drive down the cost of hydrogen.

Bodycote partnered with industrial gas innovator Hgen to deploy the hydrogen generation system at the plant. The Hgen module footprint is 20 times smaller than alternatives that produce the same gas volume, reducing system cost and space requirements. Its modular, expandable design allows production capacity to scale with process demand, supporting efficient resource use at Bodycote’s California site while strengthening long-term supply security.

The containerized module was supplied pre-assembled, minimizing custom integration, and installation took less than two weeks.

“Onsite gas generation avoids the need for expensive gas compression, transport, and storage,” said Molly Yang, Chief Executive Officer at Hgen. “The high efficiency of Hgen’s technology allows Bodycote to reduce gas costs while advancing its sustainability goals.”

Success at Rancho Dominguez is expected to pave the way for broader deployment of distributed hydrogen generation across additional sites, reinforcing Bodycote’s long-term energy transition strategy and sustainability commitments.