HYBRID HYDROGEN STORAGE SOLUTIONS

Hydrogen, in combination with electricity/electric grid, is by many predicted to become the future choice as energy carrier. One especially foresees the possibility to use hydrogen as energy vector based on renewable energy. These are solutions that in th eory totally prevent emission of greenhouse gases. In addition, using hydrogen for fuel in fuel cell powered vehicles will prevent emission of damaging exhaust and local pollution connected with use of diesel or petrol driven combustion engines. The main goal of this project is to develop energy efficient ways to handle and store hydrogen, firstly aimed towards use of hydrogen as energy carrier in the transport sector including marine application. Compression of hydrogen gas and hydrogen stored in solid-s tate materials are two technologies that can be used. A hybrid storage solution, where one combines these two methods, gives a total improvement of the characteristics. In this work we aim to design, develop, and test lightweight composite cylinders conta ining specially prepared advanced metal hydrides operating at H2 pressures in the range 5 to 350 bar. The extended pressure range, attainable by use of high-pressure systems and modification of the systems thermodynamic properties by tuning of the metal-h ydrogen interactions and the materials microstructure, enable reaching three important goals: 1.Hydrogen storage with high volumetric and gravimetric densities 2.Fast hydrogen charging and discharging rates 3.Efficient heat management and control The proj ect will rely on the combined complementary expertise of Umoe Mandal AS, a leading innovative actor in advanced composite material technologies, IFE (Kjeller), internationally leading within research and development of solid-state based hydrogen storage s olutions, and Prototech, a provider of mechanical engineering, product design, and manufacturing services covering a broad spectrum of application areas ranging space exploration to consumer products.