Blockchain-based traceability and certifications of hydrogen refueling station components

Abstract

As hydrogen gains prominence in energy systems, its adoption as an energy source for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) necessitates the establishment of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS). These stations contain critical compo-nents, including nozzles, storage tanks, heat exchangers, and compressors, which must be certified by regulatory agen-cies to ensure safety and public trust. Current certification processes are fragmented and manually intensive, creating inefficiencies and limiting transparency across the infrastructure lifecycle. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based solution that creates a secure and auditable network for certifying key HRS components. The system integrates an EVM-compatible blockchain, decentralized storage, and a modular suite of smart contracts (SCs) that formalize registration, bidding, accreditation, certification, and governance. Each contract encodes a distinct actor-driven work-flow, enabling traceable and role-specific operations. A Decentralized Application (DApp) interface supports real-time and role-based interaction across the ecosystem. We present and evaluate the SCs and their underlying algorithms us-ing gas usage analysis, load testing, and security auditing. Load testing across the certification lifecycle shows stable transaction throughput and predictable cost profiles under increasing actor activity. A static security analysis con-firms resilience against common vulnerabilities. Our cost analysis indicates that while the framework is technically deployable on public blockchains, the execution costs of certain functions make it more cost-effective for private blockchains or Layer 2 networks. We also compare our framework with existing systems to highlight its novelty and technical advantages. Our SCs, DApp interface, and load testing scripts are publicly available on GitHub.