|
Richard D. Masters,
ICHC |
A hundred years from now, people are going to look back to
the days before we discovered and commercialized the secret of hydrogen storage in carbon and
say,
"Why didn't they think of that sooner? It seems so simple, now!
It was so cheap! It was so easy! And it ended the reign of
fossil fuel forever!" |
|
Quantum Supplies Fueling Technology to Shell for JFK
Airport H2 Refueling Station in New York City
Quantum/PRN December
1, 2009 |
,,,This station is part of a cluster of hydrogen
refueling stations opened by Shell in New York, in
partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey, the US Department of Energy and General Motors.
The cluster of stations, located within approximately 30
miles of each other, is configured to provide New York
drivers of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles with greater
flexibility and convenience.The Quantum refueling
systems use oil free gas compression technology to
deliver hydrogen at high-pressure from a variety of
sources, including high pressure cascade systems,
industrial hydrogen bottles, bulk tube trailers, and
electrolyzer hydrogen generating systems. Key features
of the Quantum hydrogen refueling systems include:
- Temperature-compensated 10,000 psi (700 bar) or
5,000 psi (350 bar) fast-fill options
- High pressure cascade storage up to 15,000 psi
(1,000 bar)
- Available gas pre-chiller system to enable faster
fills
- Compression capacity of up to 9.0 kilograms per
hour
- Automated purge procedure for elimination of air
and particle contamination
- Hydrogen sensors and safety systems including
automated continuous monitoring.
|
|
Using newly
designed hydrogen engines optimized for NH3, little
difference is expected between the performance of
anhydrous ammonia compared to gasoline or diesel fuel.
from George Thomas. BES workshop 5/13/03
Sandia National Laboratories
NH3
Roadster Steals the Show in Kansas City
Richard D. Masters, ICHC
October 13, 2009
|
|
Alternative fuel advocates gathering in
Kansas City, Missouri, were treated to a first look at the
promise of ammonia's power with the no-holds-barred,
purpose-built Oxx Cart NH3 Roadster from the
Hydrogen Engine Center and Eliminator Performance.
|
|
 |
The roadster project is a showcase
for the Hydrogen Engine Center's introduction of the
"largest spark ignition hydrogen engine yet built," a 572
cubic inch compacted graphite V8 monster, cast and
machined by Eliminator Performance and "intended
for large hydrogen-fueled electrical power generation
systems and for buses." In a unique proprietary
breakthrough, ammonia fuel is "cracked" onboard, releasing
hydrogen at controlled rates which, in turn, ignites the
pure anhydrous ammonia that burns without carbon
emissions.
The roadster project is a result of years of collaboration
between key figures in ammonia and hydrogen fuel. Engine
testing and optimization are scheduled to begin shortly.
Follow the links below for more details.
|
|
|
Matthew R. Simmons, Chairman of Simmons & Company International,
will keynote the sixth annual ammonia conference. Mr. Simmons’
recently published book Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi
Oil Shock and the World Economy has been listed on the Wall
Street Journal’s best-seller list. He has also published
numerous energy papers for industry journals and is a frequent
speaker at government forums, energy symposiums and in
boardrooms of many leading energy companies around the world.
Simmons & Company is the only independent investment bank
specializing in the entire spectrum of the energy industry.
... Ammonia as
the closest thing to an ideal fuel and potential key element to
near-term U.S. energy independence.
- Can be produced
from any raw energy source
(i.e. wind, solar, biomass, coal, nuclear, hydro, etc.)
- Is cost effective
- Has significant
storage and delivery systems already in place
- Environment
friendly
- Can be used in
any prime mover (i.e. diesel engines, fuel cells, SI engines,
gas turbines, etc.)
- Has a proven,
acceptable safety record
- Produced in the
U.S.
|
|
BREAKTHROUGH |
|
Metal−Organic Frameworks Impregnated with Magnesium-Decorated
Fullerenes for Methane and Hydrogen Storage
A.W. Thornton, K.M. Nairn, J.M. Hill, A.J. Hill,
M.R. Hill
Journal of the American Chemical Society
July 9, 2009 |
|
A new concept is described for methane and hydrogen storage
materials involving the incorporation of magnesium-decorated
fullerenes within metal−organic frameworks (MOFs). The system
is modeled using a novel approach underpinned by surface
potential energies developed from Lennard-Jones parameters.
Impregnation of MOF pores with magnesium-decorated Mg10C60
fullerenes, denoted as Mg−C60@MOF, places exposed metal sites
with high heats of gas adsorption into intimate contact with
large surface area MOF structures. Perhaps surprisingly, given
the void space occupied by C60, this impregnation delivers
remarkable gas uptake, according to our modeling, which
predicts exceptional performance for the Mg−C60@MOF family of
materials. These predictions include
a volumetric methane
uptake of 265 v/v, the highest reported value for any
material, which
significantly exceeds
the U.S. Department of Energy target of 180 v/v. We
also predict a very high hydrogen adsorption enthalpy of 11 kJ
mol−1 with relatively little decrease as a function of H2
filling. This value is close to the calculated optimum value
of 15.1 kJ mol−1 and is achieved concurrently with saturation
hydrogen uptake in large amounts at pressures under 10 atm. |
|
Feathered Fuel Tank Soaks Up Hydrogen
Chris Spitzer
The Oregonian (OR)
June 26, 2009 |
|
Chicken
feather fibers are mostly composed of keratin, a natural
protein that forms strong, hollow tubes. The breakthrough
moment came when researchers heated feathers to 700 degrees,
causing a process called carbonization that created billions
of tiny pores. They had found an ideal place to pack large
amounts of hydrogen. The new feather-based material can be
produced at a small fraction of carbon nanotubes' cost. A
20-gallon feather-based tank would be about $100.
|
A Recipe for Clean, Green Hydrogen Power
Kathy Gray
The Dalles Chronicle
June 25 2009
The process captures nitrogen
from the air, which is 70 percent nitrogen, hydrogen from a commercial
water source using an off-the-shelf electrolyzer. The two elements are
then combined through the early 20th century Haber-Bosch process,
which fixes one atom of nitrogen with three atoms of hydrogen to
produce anhydrous ammonia.
|
 |
|
Sandia engineer Terry Johnson surveys various
components of the hydrogen storage system he and his team
designed for General Motors. To the right is the "SmartBed,"
featuring a thermal management system with individual control
of four identical modules, each of which is a shell and tube
heat exchanger. The material used to store the hydrogen –
sodium alanate – resides within the tubes. (Photo by Randy
Wong) |
|
Sandia
Successfully Completes
Hydrogen Storage System
for
GM
Sandia National Lab
May 7, 2009 |
|
Sandia researchers are quick to point out that the system was
not meant to fit on board a vehicle, and that sodium alanate
will not be the material of choice for onboard storage of
hydrogen. But, although it is indeed larger and heavier than a
viable automotive storage system requires, the system’s
engineered elements address many of the thermal management
issues that are necessary for successful vehicular storage of
hydrogen. |
|
BREAKTHROUGH |
|
“This changes the whole
paradigm. We’ve
eliminated pressurization and storage costs.
We’ve shortened the timetable to the point where hydrogen will
be a major component
of our national energy. This excited the Department of Energy so
much, it put together
a special brief for the Secretary of Energy.”
Gerald Groenewold, EERC Director
EERC Develops a Process that Produces Pressurized H2 from
Conventional Liquid Fuels at the Time of Fueling
James R. Robinson
Grand Forks Herald, ND
April 13, 2009 |
|
...The EERC technology converts alcohols or liquid
fuels, including ethanol and gasoline, to high-pressure hydrogen
at the time of fueling, making it more accessible and
affordable. |
-
EERC Foundation Receives Patent Application Approval for
On-Demand Hydrogen Fueling System
EERC April 13, 2009
GRAND FORKS --- After 6 years of diligent
prosecution, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued
the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) Foundation
in Grand Forks, North Dakota, allowance for a patent
application on a system that produces high-pressure hydrogen
on-demand. The final patent will be approved in the very near
future.
The EERC technology converts alcohols or liquid fuels, such
as ethanol, methanol, and gasoline, to high-pressure hydrogen
at the time of fueling. Utilizing this state-of-the-art
process, the prohibitive infrastructure costs of nationwide
hydrogen transportation and storage will be eliminated so that
hydrogen refueling will be accessible and affordable. The
hydrogen is produced on-site, on-demand at the fuel pump,
rather than at a separate location.
"Through the hydrogen programs at the EERC, we are breaking
down barriers, bringing down the costs, and shortening the
timetable to the point where hydrogen will be a major
component of our national energy future," said EERC Director
Gerald Groenewold. "The high-pressure hydrogen production
technology is a cornerstone technology for achieving those
goals."
Researchers in the EERC's National Center for Hydrogen
Technology, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy
National Energy Technology Laboratory and over 85 corporate
partners, have proved the conversion of methanol into hydrogen
and are working toward obtaining similar results for ethanol
and hydrocarbon fuels, including military jet fuel.
This technology is a cornerstone for the EERC's proposed
United States-Israel Hydrogen Fueling and Fleet Demonstration,
which proposes to demonstrate hydrogen as a fuel for transit
buses in North Dakota and Tel Aviv, Israel. The EERC is
currently seeking federal cofunding for that project.
Tom Bechtel, EERC Foundation Board President and the
Principal at TFB Consulting Services in New Bern, North
Carolina, said, "The EERC Foundation Board of Directors is
extremely proud of this milestone. It is a marvelous example
of the ever-increasing portfolio of EERC technologies the
Foundation is bringing to commercial deployment."
The technology is also being commercialized for many other
different applications as well as with a variety of corporate
and governmental partners and includes industrial applications
that provide near-term commercial opportunities for North
Dakota in manufacturing and cold-weather testing.
"This patent allowance will clearly strengthen the ability of
the EERC Foundation to license the technology," said Carsten
Heide, Associate Director for Intellectual Property Management
and Technology Commercialization. "We are continually making
design advancements to this technology and are broadening the
patent to protect those new developments." The EERC Foundation
houses the rights to technologies developed by the EERC and
promotes business relationships with strategic partners
interested in commercializing those technologies. The patent
term expires on December 13, 2024.
-
EERC National Center for Hydrogen Technology
|
|
Former Bonneville Power Administration CEO Sees "Hydrogen Hub" for
Columbia Hydropower Using Ammonia for H2 Storage
Steve Law
Sustainable Life
April 9, 2009 |
|
...A hydrogen hub would be a
power plant that uses water and air to produce a form of ammonia,
then burns the ammonia to yield hydrogen energy. ....A hydrogen
hub would buy up cheap hydro and wind power for several weeks in
the spring, say for 1 or 2 cents a kilowatt hour. PGE now sells
green power to residential customers for 10 cents a kilowatt hour.
The hub would use an electrolyzer to extract hydrogen from water
and an air-separation unit to extract nitrogen from the
atmosphere. Hydrogen and nitrogen would be synthesized into
anhydrous ammonia, using the Haber-Bosch process, named for its
inventors. Anhydrous ammonia, a common fertilizer, would be stored
in liquid form in tanks. ...Ammonia is an efficient way to store
hydrogen, says Holbrook, executive director of the nonprofit
Ammonia Fuel Network. “We call it the other hydrogen.” When the
electricity price jumps in the summer, the hydrogen hub runs the
ammonia through a generator, producing hydrogen power. ...The
electricity would free utilities from building extra power plants
to meet peak summertime demand for energy. |
-
Solid State Ammonia Synthesis
October 15, 2007
Jason C. Ganley, John H. Holbrook,
Doug E. McKinley
-
Ammonia Fuel -- The Other Hydrogen Future?
Larry Bruce, Joe McClintock and John Holbrook
Alexander's Oil & Gas Journal
September 29, 2008
-
Interview: John Holbrook of Ammonia Fuel Network
Daily KOS
Februay 4, 2008
-
Wind to Ammonia: An Update Michael
Reese October
15, 2007
-
Agriculture without Fossil Fuels
November 17, 2008
-
THERE IS NO ENERGY
CRISIS
FOR OVER A DECADE, WE HAVE BEEN HELD IN
THE GRIP OF A POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL EMERGENCY THAT HAS
PREVENTED RATIONAL ENERGY CHOICES.
HERE, IN ITS ENTIRETY, WE REPRINT JACK
ROBERTSON'S SUPERB 2003 SOLUTION TO EXCESSIVE NORTHWEST
OIL CONSUMPTION IN HOPES THAT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL NOT
BLITHELY DISREGARD IT THE WAY THE GRAND OIL PARTY DID.
--RDM
Columbia's Power: The River Contains the
Secret to Drive a National Energy Revolution
Jack Robertson
Register-Guard
January 16, 2003
The mighty Columbia
River's nighttime flow holds a remarkable secret. This secret
can put the Northwest at the center of a global energy
revolution, create thousands of new jobs and help end forever
our dependence on Middle East oil.
While you sleep, the power of the Columbia River can create a
revolutionary new energy source - lighter than air, completely
renewable, and yet with the highest energy content of any fuel.
In the Northwest we can produce this new fuel faster, cleaner
and cheaper than anywhere in the world. What's its source?
Water. That's right. The power of the Columbia River can
unlock hydrogen from water. It can turn the Northwest into the
Saudi Arabia of hydrogen - the revolutionary fuel at the center
of President Bush's bold, $1.2 billion proposal to build
hydrogen-powered cars and a national hydrogen infrastructure.
For centuries, people have dreamed of a limitless, clean
source of energy. For decades, scientists have known that
hydrogen - the most common element in the universe - holds the
answer to a global energy revolution.
Critics insist hydrogen-powered cars are at best a decade
away, that a national hydrogen infrastructure is impractical,
that hydrogen costs too much, and that consumers will consider
it unsafe.
But now the world faces grave economic, environmental and
foreign policy dangers - all linked to energy. We need a
fundamental breakthrough, the energy equivalent of the computing
revolution of the last 20 years, to solve these problems.
Hydrogen holds the key to a radical break from the past. It's
time the critics were answered.
We can start right here. Hydrogen produced at night and
stored in fuel tanks throughout the Northwest can revolutionize
energy consumption in the 21st century. The end of the age of
oil can begin here.
Most importantly, you don't have to wait a decade or more to
drive a hydrogen-powered car - it can power the minivan or SUV
sitting in your garage. Hydrogen is 50 percent more powerful
than gasoline. It can increase the horsepower of your existing
car, take you hundreds of miles on a single tank, and never
require a tune-up.
With existing technology, your car can be retrofitted to run
on both gasoline and hydrogen. It will require basically three
things; a new fuel tank, new spark plugs and a few hours in a
local car shop. Today, a retrofit will probably cost a few
thousand dollars - until dual-fuel hydro cars become popular.
The price should drop, and you should be able to order a
dual-fuel car from the factory.
With our natural, hydrogen-producing resource, the Columbia
River, we can put thousands of these cars on Northwest roads
within a handful of years. Our economy will strengthen even as
our skies clear.
The secret to our success will be found in a simple equation.
We can produce hydrogen from water as cheaply as big oil
companies can produce gasoline from oil.
How? Through water power.
At night and during the spring runoff, the Columbia River
produces huge amounts of very low-cost electricity that can be
sent to municipal fueling yards and gas stations region-wide.
The electric current runs through water in an electrolyzing
machine about the size of a refrigerator. There, electricity
splits water into its two fundamental components - hydrogen and
oxygen gas.
Oxygen is put in tanks and sold to hospitals. The hydrogen
gas is safely stored on site in a large propane-like tank. Right
now, hydrogen test stations are already fueling cars in
California, Las Vegas and Phoenix. In the future you will pull
up to the hydrogen fueling station, attach the nozzle to your
tank, and swipe your credit card. Hydrogen gas will be
automatically pumped into your upgraded car. Two minutes later
the computer shuts off the valve, and your tank is full.
You pull away and - presto - you are transformed from a
gas-guzzling commuter into a powerful force for change. You're
now driving a hydro car - a car that runs on hydrogen made from
water. You have become a cutting-edge consumer, a powerful
environmentalist, and a leader for U.S. energy independence -
all by driving the kids to school.
There are three crucial steps to building the infrastructure
to support thousands of hydro cars in the next few years.
Step one will require that we turn water into low-cost
hydrogen. Technology to turn water to hydrogen - hydro fuel -
exists right now. Most of the infrastructure is already built.
The Northwest has 40 percent of the nation's hydroelectric
power. Electricity is sent out over the existing power grid to
every big city and small town in the Northwest. Electrolyzing
machines are off-the-shelf technology.
The electrolyzing machine transforms tap water into hydrogen.
The energy content from the hydrogen in a gallon of water equals
10 gallons of gasoline. Most remarkably, when hydrogen is burned
in your car engine its only exhaust is water vapor. This vapor
returns to the atmosphere, producing rain and replenishing our
rivers. Hydrogen becomes a perpetual fuel - power from a perfect
natural cycle.
Not only is it clean, it can be very cheap.
At night while we sleep, demand for electricity ebbs. The
wholesale price of electricity drops to about 2 cents a kilowatt
hour. During the massive spring runoff, the price drops even
further - to less than 1 cent a kilowatt hour even in low water
years. Experts say it takes 38 kilowatt hours of electricity to
produce the hydrogen equivalent of a gallon of gas.
At 2 cents a kilowatt hour, hydrogen gas equal to a gallon of
gasoline would cost 76 cents. At a spring price of 1 cent a
kilowatt hour, the cost of producing hydrogen fuel equal to a
gallon of gasoline drops to 38 cents. Even with retail mark-ups
and added energy used for compressing hydrogen into the
station's fuel tank, the cost of producing hydrogen here should
be competitive with gasoline.
Some would consider this calculation conservative. It assumes
no benefit from selling oxygen to hospitals. Nor does it include
benefits from a new power source centered in this country. We
now pay billions to nations in the Middle East and elsewhere for
the basic source of energy - oil. The electricity prices we will
pay for producing hydrogen will go instead to local utilities,
helping keep overall transmission and electric power rates low.
This strengthens our economy.
Hydrogen revenues also will strengthen the Bonneville
Power Administration, which provides half the region's
electricity and funds the world's largest fish and wildlife
program on the Columbia River. Finally, large-scale hydrogen
production will increasingly free us from the political turmoil
in oil-rich regions of the world. Given the threat of terrorism
and war, this benefit is - as they say in the commercial -
priceless.
Early-stage costs of hydrogen fueling stations, if added to
the cost of producing pure hydrogen, could push hydrogen's price
above the price of gasoline in the near term. But as demand for
hydrogen increases, the cost of producing this infrastructure
should drop rapidly.
Cost is just one factor. Just imagine the enormous long-term
environmental and human health benefits of a practical,
powerful, zero-emissions fuel. Gasoline-powered cars account for
half the oil consumed in the United States, half the urban
pollution, and one-forth the greenhouse gases. Hundreds of
millions of tons of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and other
chemical pollutants would be eliminated every year. Pollution
alert days could disappear forever in the rear-view mirror of
history.
Step two is to convert your car. This can be simple.
The internal combustion engine in your car can run on
hydrogen or gasoline. It doesn't care. New injectors, capable of
handling both hydrogen and gasoline, will replace spark plugs. A
new hydrogen fuel tank is under consideration by the federal
Department of Transportation. With it, a hydrogen-powered car
can travel 200 miles before refilling. Tanks on the drawing
board can extend that range up to 1,000 miles.
With two tanks, your car can run on hydro fuel until its
empty. Then you switch your engine to gasoline with the flip of
a switch, extending your car's range by hundreds of miles. As
the "hydrogen highway" expands and tanks improve, gasoline can
be phased out.
Car safety is a vital issue. Because we've all heard of
hydrogen bombs, some consumers are frightened of putting such an
explosive material in the tank of their car. This fear is
understandable, but exaggerated. A hydrogen bomb, for example,
can be triggered only by the heat of an atomic bomb.
Hydrogen fuel burns a lot like the natural gas fueling some
buses today - only faster and cleaner. Because it is lighter
than air, if a tank of hydrogen gas is broken in an accident,
the flames will burn straight up - away from passengers.
The rupture of a car tank filled with hydrogen can pose less
danger to passengers than a tank filled with gasoline.
Step three is to create a hydrogen highway.
A public-private consortium should select key rural and urban
markets to create an initial network of fueling stations.
This project will form the initial backbone of a new hydrogen
infrastructure, linking up to existing stations on the West
Coast and expanding with demand.
The hydrogen in tanks region-wide can serve another purpose.
During emergencies, electricity-generating turbines can be
powered by the stored hydrogen gas.
This keeps the lights on with a nonpolluting source of
electric energy - right in our neighborhood. This can save
hundreds of millions of dollars in electric grid expansion
projects.
Our regional economy needs help. Global oil-based energy
markets are unstable and threatened by terrorism. Worldwide,
demand for energy far outstrips supply - condemning billions to
a life of grinding poverty with no lights, no heat and no
future. Carbon-based pollution adds to a threatened global
environment.
The sheer magnitude of these challenges demands a
fundamental energy breakthrough - a new, hydrogen-based economy
to power the 21st century. With the enormous power of the
Columbia River, the Northwest enjoys a huge natural advantage in
a hydrogen future. We can help lead the nation and the world
away from the carbon-based economy of the last century and
toward an energy revolution fueled by water.
We need to unlock the river's powerful secret - now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Jack
Robertson of Portland worked for the Bonneville Power
Administration from 1986 through 1999, serving as acting chief
executive officer and deputy CEO. He helped found the Bonneville
Environmental Foundation. From 1973 to 1982, he worked on the
staff of Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield in Washington, D.C.
Columbia's Power: The River Contains the Secret to Drive a
National Energy Revolution
The Register-Guard, February 16, 2003
|
|
DEPARTMENT OF THEY MAKE HYDROGEN BOMBS WITH IT, DON'T THEY?
FAA Diverts Planes from Site of Hydrogen Leak
Pat Grossmith
Union Leader (NH)
January 19, 2009
An employee of Praxair Inc.,
which owns and services the tank in the rear of the 655 South Willow
Street plant, poured some hot water on it, and then tightened the
valve, ending the problem, said District Fire Chief James Michael.
Florida Guards Against Leaks in Hydrogen Vehicles
Claire Swedberg
RFID Journal
January 15, 2008
|
|
STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH
New Carbon Nanomaterial
Prachi Patel-Predd
Technology Review
January 30, 2009 |
|
Graphene, a
single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like
structure, has captured worldwide interest because of its
attractive electronic properties. Now, by adding hydrogen to
graphene, researchers at the University of Manchester, U.K.,
have made a new material that could prove useful for hydrogen
storage and future carbon-based integrated circuits. |
|
STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH
Pillared Graphene
A New 3-D Network Nanostructure for Enhanced
Hydrogen Storage
Georgios K. Dimitrakakis, Emmanuel Tylianakis,
George E. Froudakis
Department of Chemistry, and Materials
Science and Technology Dept
University of Crete, Greece ASAP Nanoletters
September 19, 2008 |
Both volumetric and
gravimetric hydrogen uptake are significantly increased compared
with the undoped case. We have observed the same effect in the past,
for other carbon nanostructures, when doped by Li cations.
In particular, for pressures
below 10 bar, the gravimetric adsorption is enhanced by 76% at
ambient temperature and by 88% at cryogenic.
Additionally, the enhancement on the volumetric adsorption is 30%
and 38%, respectively. Besides these remarkable results, something
else that is worth mentioning is that, for both temperature
conditions, the saturation pressure is reached very soon. This is an
extra benefit since low pressure is an important safety issue in
mobile applications.
...In conclusion, a multiscale theoretical investigation
proved that CNTs and graphene sheets can be combined to form novel
3-D nanostructures, capable of enhancing hydrogen storage. Ab initio
calculations revealed that, even on the junction of this material,
hydrogen’s interaction remains weak, comparable with already known
hydrogen−carbon interaction values. The importance of the “charge
induced dipole” in this type of interaction was verified, since
hydrogen bonds with a difference of more than 1 order of magnitude
when a lithium cation is present. ...It
was further proven that this novel material, when doped with lithium
cations, can reach D.O.E’s volumetric target for mobile
applications, under ambient conditions. |
|
BREAKTHROUGH! |
 |
Prototype Hydrogen Storage Tank Maintains Extended Thermal Endurance
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
June 4, 2008
LIVERMORE, Calif. – A cryogenic pressure
vessel developed and installed in an experimental hybrid vehicle by a
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory research team can hold liquid
hydrogen for six days without venting any of the fuel.
Unlike conventional liquid hydrogen (LH2 tanks in
prototype cars, the LLNL pressure vessel was parked for six days without
venting evaporated hydrogen vapor. |
 |
The LLNL development has significantly increased the amount
of time it takes to start releasing hydrogen during periods of long-term
parking, as compared to today’s liquid hydrogen tanks capable of holding
hydrogen for merely two to four days.
LH2 tanks hold super-cold liquid hydrogen at around -420
Fahrenheit. Like water boiling in a tea kettle, pressure builds as heat
from the environment warms the hydrogen inside. Current automotive LH2
tanks must vent evaporated hydrogen vapor after being parked three to four
days, even when using the best thermal insulation available (200 times
less conductive than Styrofoam insulation).
In recent testing of its prototype hydrogen tank onboard a
liquid hydrogen (LH2) powered hybrid, LLNL’s tank demonstrated a thermal
endurance of six days and the potential for as much as 15 days, helping
resolve a key challenge facing LH2 automobiles.
Today’s automotive LH2 tanks operate at low pressure (2-10
atmospheres). The LLNL cryogenic capable pressure vessel is much stronger,
and can operate at hydrogen pressures of up to 350 atmospheres (similar to
scuba tanks), holding the hydrogen even as the pressure increases due to
heat transfer from the environment. This high-pressure capability also
means that a vehicle’s thermal endurance improves as the tank is emptied,
and is able to hold hydrogen fuel indefinitely when it is about one-third
full.
Last year, the LLNL experimental hybrid vehicle demonstrated
the longest driving distance on a single tank of hydrogen (650 miles). The
recent thermal endurance experiments validate the key benefit of cryogenic
pressure vessels: They deliver the high density of liquid hydrogen storage
without the evaporative losses. These two advantages make LH2 vehicles far
more practical in the search for a replacement to today’s gasoline-powered
automobiles.
The Livermore work, sponsored by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s)
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is part of DOE’s
National Hydrogen Storage Project to demonstrate advanced hydrogen-storage
materials and designs. The project is a component of President George W.
Bush’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative launched in 2003 as well as his DOE
Advanced Energy Initiative of 2006.
Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a
national security laboratory, with a mission to ensure national security
and apply science and technology to the important issues of our time.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore
National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National
Nuclear Security Administration. |
|
BREAKTHROUGH! |
 |
What looks like a fertilized egg,
flows like water, is stuffed with catalysts and exotic nano-structures and
may have the potential of making the current retail gasoline
infrastructure compatible with hydrogen-based vehicles of the future – not
to mention also contributing to arenas such as nuclear proliferation and
global warming? Take another look again at the photo on the cover. the
microscopic permeable glass balloon whose |
|
shell has been partially removed to reveal its palladium
contents will give you a sense of what’s in store for the future, if the
SRNL researchers are right. aCerS is honored to be the first to publish
information on this startling and promising discovery and the captivating,
never-before-seen photos of these glass microspheres in action. |
|
Microspheres and Microworlds
G.G. Wicks, L.K. Heung and R.F. Schumacher
American Ceramic Society Bulletin
June 2008 |
|
As a byproduct of the Toyota
collaboration, researchers discovered that effective and reactive
absorbents could be incorporated inside the PW-HGMs and, interestingly,
these absorbant materials assembled themselves into unfamiliar
nanostructures. ...From chemical analyses of these structures, they do not
appear to be any of the anticipated phases. This suggests that
along with new nanostructures produced by the porosity of the microsphere
walls, new phases also may result.
more |
|
HUGE CARBON STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH |
|
“When we started doing experiments,
we realized the metal interaction doesn’t just increase the temperature at
which hydrogen can be stored, but
it also increases the density above that in solid hydrogen. This is
absolutely the first time this has been encountered without having to use
pressure.” |
|
Center for Neutron Research scientist
Craig Brown, Team Leader |
Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) |
GREATEST LOW-PRESSURE
HYDROGEN STORAGE DENSITY
YET ACHIEVED!
More Solid than Solid: A Potential Hydrogen-Storage Compound
US Institute of Standards & Technology
April 1, 2008 |
One of the key engineering challenges to
building a clean, efficient, hydrogen-powered car is how to design the
fuel tank. Storing enough raw hydrogen for a reasonable driving range
would require either impractically high pressures for gaseous hydrogen or
extremely low temperatures for liquid hydrogen. In a new paper researchers
at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for Neutron
Research (NCNR) have demonstrated that a novel class of materials could
enable a practical hydrogen fuel tank.
A research team from NIST, the University of Maryland and the
California Institute of Technology studied metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
One of several classes of materials that can bind and release hydrogen
under the right conditions, they have some distinct advantages over
competitors. In principle they could be engineered so that refueling is as
easy as pumping gas at a service station is today, and MOFs don’t require
the high temperatures (110 to 500 C) some other materials need to release
hydrogen.
In particular, the team examined MOF-74, a porous crystalline
powder developed at the University of California at Los Angeles. MOF-74
resembles a series of tightly packed straws comprised of mostly carbon
atoms with columns of zinc ions running down the inside walls. A gram of
the stuff has about the same surface area as two basketball courts.
The researchers used neutron scattering and gas adsorption
techniques to determine that at 77 K (-196 C),
MOF-74 can adsorb more hydrogen than any unpressurized framework structure
studied to date—packing the molecules in more densely than they would be
if frozen in a block.
NCNR scientist Craig Brown says that, though his team doesn’t
understand exactly what allows the hydrogen to bond in this fashion, they
think the zinc center has some interesting properties.
“When we started doing experiments, we realized the metal
interaction doesn’t just increase the temperature at which hydrogen can be
stored, but it also increases the density above that in solid hydrogen,”
Brown says. “This is absolutely the first time this has been encountered
without having to use pressure.”
Although the liquid-nitrogen temperature of MOF-74 is not
exactly temperate, it’s easier to reach than the temperature of solid
hydrogen (-269 C), and one of the goals of this research is to achieve
energy densities great enough to be as economical as gasoline at ambient,
and thus less costly, temperatures. MOF-74 is a step forward in terms of
understanding energy density, but there are other factors left to be dealt
with that, once addressed, could further increase the temperature at which
the fuel can be stored. Fully understanding the physics of the interaction
might allow scientists to develop means for removing refrigeration or
insulation, both of which are costly in terms of fuel economy, fuel
production, or both.
The work was funded in part through the
Department of Energy's Hydrogen Sorption Center of Excellence.
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IS PROKHOROV EYEING
CARBON STORAGE? |
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Hydrogen Fuel is the Way Ahead, Says Oligarch
Mark Leftly The
Independent (UK) March
23, 2008 |
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Mr. Prokhorov told The Independent on
Sunday that the UK's commitment to
a nuclear energy programme overlooked research that suggests hydrogen
technology could be a more efficient option. ..."A compelling
advantage of energy produced from hydrogen fuel cells is that it can,
thanks to nanotechnology advances, be stored. It can therefore be produced
to coincide with consumption peaks." |
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BREAKTHROUGH!
18%Wt. Hydrogen in Hydride?
A European research team has
discovered a new form of a compound that could possibly release 18% wt.
hydrogen in mild conditions.
This discovery is completely
unexpected.
It was not predicted by theory!
New Form Of Hydride Stimulates Research On Hydrogen Storage, Hydrogen Cars
Science Daily
December 5, 2007 |
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Researchers at the Swiss-Norwegian experimental stations (beamlines) at
the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility are currently studying several
compounds of light elements with hydrogen and the different forms they
take at different pressure and temperature. Lithium borohydride, LiBH4, is
one of the compounds they study as it has a high weight content of
hydrogen (18%). The new form of this compound, which scientists have just
discovered, is promising because it appears to be unstable. Until today,
all the known forms of this material are too stable, which means that they
don’t let the hydrogen go.
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"...a nonprecious metal route to
the design of new biohybrid architectures and building blocks for
hydrogen-related technologies." |
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BREAKTHROUGH!
Cheap Hydrogen Power
Gets a Nanotube Boost
Robert Adler New Scientist (UK)
November 21, 2007
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Nanotubes normally absorb and re-emit light at
characteristic wavelengths but, after hydrogenase is added, this
photoluminescence disappears, suggesting that the enzyme is feeding
electrons into the nanotubes as it catalyses the oxidation hydrogen. The
team found that they could control the catalytic reaction by changing the
pH balance of the solution or the amount of hydrogen in it. As expected,
when they added oxygen, which inactivates hydrogenase, the nanotubes lit
up again. In the absence of oxygen, the hydrogenase-nanotube connections
continued to work for up to a week.
more |
Background: In May2007, a team from
the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory led by Michael Heben
announced significant progress in reducing the amount of platinum required
in electrolysis: |
"We are interested in developing the scientific principles to control
catalysis and electrocatalysis on the nanoscale. We seek to design
interfaces and electrodes using nanoscience to permit; (1) highly
efficient and robust catalyst utilization, (2) fundamental investigations
of the key reaction steps which are relevant to fuel- forming and
fuel-cell reactions, and (3) a route away from precious metal catalysts.
We approach this problem using carbon single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs)...
"An increase in the Pt catalyst utilization efficiency
(currently less than 30%) would dramatically decrease the amount of
catalyst needed in current PEMFCs. To effectively utilize the Pt catalyst
in a PEMFC, the catalyst must have simultaneous access to the gas, the
electron conducting medium, and the proton conducting medium. Typically,
the catalyst layer for a conventional Pt-catalyzed fuel cell is prepared
by an ink-process. Here, Pt-supported carbon particles are blended with
Nafion in order to allow for the simultaneous access of the Pt catalyst to
the electron conducting and proton conducting media. A common issue with
this conventional blending process has been that the proton transport
material, Nafion, tends to isolate the carbon support particles in
the catalyst layer, leading to poor electron transport throughout the
cell. The use of SWNT-supported electrocatalysts in PEMFCs has the
potential to eliminate this problem and improve the utilization efficiency
of the electrocatalyst. Preliminary results show that the current
associated with oxygen reduction on the Pt/SWNT electrodes with [6
micrograms of platinum per square centimeter] is only 20% lower than g/cm
the current for the Pt/SWNT electrode with [18 micrograms of platinum per
square centimeter.] This result suggests that the Pt/ SWNT interaction has
a pronounced affect on the kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction. "
Carbon Nanotube Materials for Substrate Enhanced Control of Catalytic
Activity
Michael J. Heben , Anne C. Dillon, Chaiwat Engtrakul, Se-Hee
Lee NREL
Now another team from NREL, again led by Michael Heben, has discovered a
"new nanotube physics" that combines nanotubes with peculiar
metalloenzymes called hydrogenases. Although discovered in the 1930s as
the critical engine of anaerobic metabolism (life in the absence of
oxygen), these enzymes were brought to public attention in 2000 by
Dr. Tasios Melis of UC Berkeley who discovered a method of stimulating
anaerobic hydrogen production from algae. Then on September 10, 2007, Heben and his team announced that they had developed a "biohybrid"
technique using single-walled carbon nanotubes to entirely replace the
precious metals previously required for catalyzing oxygen/hydrogen
reactions, and creating, somewhat surprisingly, robust,
biologically-driven nanoscale electron pumps that may possibly be
harnessed to produce useable power. -- RDM
Wiring-Up Hydrogenase with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Timothy J. McDonald, Drazenka Svedruzic, Yong-Hyun
Kim, Jeffrey L. Blackburn, S. B. Zhang, Paul W. King and Michael J. Heben
NREL Nano Letters |
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Abstract: Many envision a future where hydrogen is the
centerpiece of a sustainable, carbon-free energy supply. For example, the
energy in sunlight may be stored by splitting water into H2 and O2 using
inorganic semiconductors and photoelectrochemical approaches or with
artificial photosynthetic systems that seek to mimic the light absorption,
energy transfer, electron transfer, and redox catalysis that occurs in
green plants. Unfortunately, large scale deployment of artificial
water-splitting technologies may be impeded by the need for the large
amounts of precious metals required to catalyze the multielectron
water-splitting reactions. Nature provides a variety of microbes that can
activate the dihydrogen bond through the catalytic activity of [NiFe] and
[FeFe] hydrogenases, and photobiological approaches to water splitting
have been advanced. One may also consider a biohybrid approach; however,
it is difficult to interface these sensitive metalloenzymes to other
materials and systems. Here we show that surfactant-suspended carbon
single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) spontaneously self-assemble with [FeFe]
hydrogenases in solution to form catalytically active biohybrids.
Photoluminescence excitation and Raman spectroscopy studies show that
SWNTs act as molecular wires to make electrical contact to the
biocatalytic region of hydrogenase. Hydrogenase mediates electron
injection into nanotubes having appropriately positioned lowest occupied
molecular orbital levels when the H2 partial pressure is varied. The
hydrogenase is strongly attached to the SWNTs, so mass transport effects
are eliminated and the absolute potential of the electronic levels of the
nanotubes can be unambiguously measured. Our findings reveal new nanotube
physics and represent the first example of "wiring-up" an hydrogenase with
another nanoscale material. This latter advance offers a nonprecious metal
route to the design of new biohybrid architectures and building blocks for
hydrogen-related technologies.
more |
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H2 STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH!
14% CLAIMED |
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Adam Phillips, left, and Bellave S. Shivaram
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University of Virginia Scientists Discover Record-Breaking Hydrogen
Storage Materials
University of Virginia
November 9, 2007 |
Scientists at the University of Virginia
have discovered a new class of hydrogen storage materials that could make
the storage and transportation of energy much more efficient — and
affordable — through higher-performing hydrogen fuel cells.
Bellave S. Shivaram and Adam B. Phillips, the U.Va.
physicists who invented the new materials, will present their finding at 8
p.m., Monday, Nov. 12, at the International Symposium on Materials Issues
in a Hydrogen Economy at the Omni Hotel in Richmond, Va.
“In terms of hydrogen absorption, these materials could prove
a world record,” Phillips said. “Most materials today absorb only 7 to 8
percent of hydrogen by weight, and only at cryogenic [extremely low]
temperatures. Our materials absorb hydrogen up to 14 percent by weight at
room temperature. By absorbing twice as much hydrogen, the new materials
could help make the dream of a hydrogen economy come true.”
In the quest for alternative fuels, U.Va.’s new materials
potentially could provide a highly affordable solution to energy storage
and transportation problems with a wide variety of applications. They
absorb a much higher percentage of hydrogen than predecessor materials
while exhibiting faster kinetics at room temperature and much lower
pressures, and are inexpensive and simple to produce.
“These materials are the next generation in hydrogen fuel
storage materials, unlike any others we have seen before,” Shivaram said.
“They have passed every litmus test that we have performed, and we believe
they have the potential to have a large impact.”
The inventors believe the novel materials will translate to
the marketplace and are working with the U.Va. Patent Foundation to patent
their discovery.
“The U.Va. Patent Foundation is very excited to be working
with a material that one day may be used by millions in everyday life,”
said Chris Harris, senior licensing manager for the U.Va. Patent
Foundation. “Dr. Phillips and Dr. Shivaram have made an incredible
breakthrough in the area of hydrogen absorption.”
Phillips’s and Shivaram’s
research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S.
Department of Energy.
About the University of Virginia Patent Foundation
The University of Virginia Patent Foundation is a
not-for-profit corporation that serves to promote the translation of U.Va.
technologies to the global marketplace by evaluating, protecting and
licensing intellectual property generated in the course of research at
U.Va. The Patent Foundation reviews and evaluates over 150 inventions per
year and has generated more than $75 million in licensing revenue since
its formation in 1978. For more information about the Patent Foundation,
its services or technology transfer, visit www.uvapf.org. |
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HYDROGEN STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH
Hypercrosslinked polyanilines with nanoporous structure and high surface
area: potential adsorbents for hydrogen storage
Jonathan Germain, Jean M. J. Fre´chet and Frantisek Svec
Journal of Materials Chemistry, The Royal Society of Chemistry
October 18, 2007 |
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Nanoporous polyanilines
can be prepared using hypercrosslinking of commercially available
polyaniline with diiodoalkanes or formaldehyde. Some of these polymers
exhibit specific surface areas exceeding 630 m2 g -1
that are unprecedented for this class of polymers. ...Our preliminary
experiments indicate that these materials have a certain potential for
hydrogen storage. Although their overall hydrogen storage capacity at 77 K
is currently lower than that of our hypercrosslinked polystyrene, they
offer the highest enthalpy of adsorption of any air-stable sorbenttype
hydrogen storage material. Further optimization of reaction conditions is
expected to lead to materials with much higher surface areas and therefore
enhanced hydrogen storage capacities.
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Shell Selects Ilika Technologies for Joint Development Project in Hydrogen
Storage
Ilika Technologies (UK)
October 2007 |
Shell Hydrogen B.V., a division of the
Shell Group, and a global leader in establishing the hydrogen economy, has
entered into a joint development project with Ilika Technologies Ltd to
develop materials suitable for the solid-state storage of hydrogen.
One of the key barriers to the adoption of hydrogen as a fuel
is finding safe and economical solutions for onboard and stationary
storage. While cryogenic storage and the use of compressed gas cylinders
have been used in pilot projects, a safer and more efficient method could
use solid-state storage methods involving the combination of metal alloys
with hydrogen, which can reversibly combine with, and release, hydrogen.
Ilika specializes in combinatorial technology for rapidly
creating and screening materials relevant for hydrogen storage. This
involves the combination of metal alloys with hydrogen to form metal
hydrides, which can reversibly combine with, and release, hydrogen.
Jack Boyer, Ilika’s Chairman stated, “We are pleased to
combine our research capabilities with those of Shell. Our collaboration
model has proven successful with other major customers and we fully expect
a successful technical and commercial outcome to this project”.
Shell Hydrogen, a Shell Group business set-up in 1999, has
its headquarters in The Hague and regional offices in Huston and Tokyo.
Its goal; to bring hydrogen into a retail setting through the knowledge
and expertise gained from demonstration projects located across three
continents.
Ilika Technologies Ltd is a privately held company
established in 2004. Ilika quickly established a reputation for innovation
and rapid results in the high growth industry of materials development.
The company specializes in the development and application of
high-throughput, combinatorial R&D techniques for the accelerated
discovery of new materials. |
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A small pellet of solid ammonia borane
(240 mg), as shown, is capable of storing relatively large quantities of
hydrogen
(0.5 liter) in a very small volume. |
Ammonia borane molecule
Pellets of Power Designed to Deliver H2
Pacific Northwest National Lab
August 2007 |
The Department of Energy's Chemical Hydrogen Storage
Center of Excellence is investigating a hydrogen storage medium that holds
promise in meeting long-term targets for transportation use. As part of
the center, PNNL scientists are using solid ammonia borane, or AB,
compressed into small pellets to serve as a hydrogen storage material.
Each milliliter of AB weighs about three-quarters of a gram and harbors up
to 1.8 liters of hydrogen. Researchers expect that a fuel system using
small AB pellets will occupy less space and be lighter in weight than
systems using pressurized hydrogen gas, thus enabling fuel cell vehicles
to have room, range and performance comparable to today's automobiles.
..."Once hydrogen from the storage material is depleted, the
AB pellets must be safely and efficiently regenerated by way of chemical
processing," said PNNL scientist Don Camaioni. "This 'refueling' method
requires chemically digesting or breaking down the solid spent fuel into
chemicals that can be recycled back to AB with hydrogen."
more |
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BREAKTHROUGH
Carbon Nanohorns 'A Better Prospect'
for Hydrogen Storage Applications
Fuel Cell Today
June 8, 2007 |
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"The results show that
hydrogen interacts far more strongly with such carbonous nanostructures
than it does to carbon nanotubes, suggesting that nanohorns and related
nanostructures may offer significantly better prospects as light-weight
media for hydrogen storage applications," the researchers said.
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Nanotechnology Breakthrough in Hydrogen Storage
Plastics in Packaging
June 5, 2007 |
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Researchers from
Bilkent University in Turkey and the US National Institute of Standards and
Technology believe that they can use nanotechnology to create plastics that will
'package' hydrogen in an unusual way. The researchers believe that by attaching
titanium atoms to opposite ends of an ethylene molecule they can form a complex
structure that will absorb 10 hydrogen molecules. This would double the minimum
target set by the US Department of Energy for economically practical storage of
hydrogen in a solid state material.
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Hydrogen Storage Capacity of Titanium Met-cars
N Akman, E Durgun, T Yildirim and S Ciraci
Journal of Physics-Condensed Matter
September 26, 2006
The adsorption of hydrogen molecules on the
titanium metallocarbohedryne (met-car) cluster has been investigated by using
the first-principles plane wave method. We have found that, while a single Ti
atom at the corner can bind up to three hydrogen molecules, a single Ti atom on
the surface of the cluster can bind only one hydrogen molecule. Accordingly, a
Ti8C12 met-car can bind up to 16 H2 molecules and hence can be considered as a
high-capacity hydrogen storage medium.
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Combinatorial Search for Optimal Hydrogen-Storage Nanomaterials Based on
Polymers
Hoonkyung Lee, Woon Ih Choi, and Jisoon Ihm
Physical Review Letters #97
August 4, 2006
An optimal material we identify is Ti-decorated cis-polyacetylene
with reversibly usable gravimetric and volumetric density of 7.6 wt %
and 63 kg/m3, respectively, near ambient conditions.
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Transition Metal-Decorated
Nanotubes and C 60; High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage Medium
Taner Yildirim NIST
April 25,
2005
Here using first-principles density
functional theory, we show that a single light-transition metal such as Ti
absorbed on a SWNT or C60 can dissociate hydrogen molecules with zero activation
energy barrier and strongly bonds not ONE, not TWO, not THREE but FOUR H2
molecules! At high metal coverage, the system is able to reversible absorb
hydrogen molecules up to 8 wt%!
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Unlocking the Secrets of Titanium, a “Key” that Assists Hydrogen Storage
Brookhaven National Lab
July 23, 2004
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Nanotech News at
NanoAPEX |
"This could be a major
step towards the breakthrough that the fuel cell industry and the transport
sector have waited for."
Professor Peter Edwards, University of Oxford
Project Coordinator, UK Sustainable
Hydrogen Energy Consortium
LITHIUM:
UK Announces Breakthrough in Hydrogen Storage
Scenta (UK)
May 23, 2007
Prototype magnetic refrigerator at the
University of Victoria
50% Efficiency in sight for cryogenic hydrogen!
Efficient Liquid Hydrogen Storage
Gasworld
March 15, 2007
Studies using magnetic refrigeration to
efficiently obtain
liquid hydrogen are producing promising results
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HSM Announces Breakthrough Material
for Solid Hydrogen Storage Systems
HMS Systems (Canada)
March 7, 2007 |
HSM through its Research and License
Agreement with the University of New Brunswick (UNB) is collaborating with
Dr. Craig Jensen, a leader with over 25 years experience in the field of
novel hydride materials and his team at the University of Hawaii.
“Aluminum is the preferred material because it has many
of the properties that are a pre requisite to be considered viable for
hydrogen storage applications” said Dr. Jensen. Most notably these
materials contain 10.1 wt % hydrogen and undergo dehydrogenation at
appreciable rates at temperatures below 100 C. However, the very low
enthalpy of dehydrogenation of alane prohibits subsequent re-hydrogenation
through standard gas-solid techniques except at very high pressures or
very low temperatures. Dr. Sean McGrady, lead researcher on the project
who has over two decades in the handling of reactive inorganic materials,
adds that the extremely low solubility of gaseous hydrogen in conventional
organic solvents also vitiates a solution-based approach.
“Re-hydrogenation of aluminum using a supercritical fluid potentially
offers a workable approach since the fluid can act as a solvent, at the
same time remaining completely miscible with permanent gases like
hydrogen.” |
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STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH!
Record-breaking methane storage
system derived from corncobs may encourage
mass-market natural gas automobiles
- and ultimately hydrogen vehicles!
Researchers at the University of
Missouri-Columbia and the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City have
developed a method to convert corncob waste into a carbon "sponge" with
nanoscale pores. The new material can store large quantities of natural
gas and can be formed into a variety of shapes, ideal characteristics for
next-generation gas storage tanks on methane-powered automobiles.
Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation |
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From Farm Waste to Fuel Tanks
National Science Foundation
February 16, 2007
Researchers have developed a
corncob-derived carbon "sponge" that can store natural gas.
Using corncob waste as a starting material, researchers have
created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing
natural gas at an unprecedented density of 180 times their own volume and
at one seventh the pressure of conventional natural gas tanks.
The breakthrough, announced today in Kansas City, Mo., is a
significant step forward in the nationwide effort to fit more automobiles
to run on methane, an abundant fuel that is domestically produced and
cleaner burning than gasoline.
Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Partnership for Innovation program, researchers at the University of
Missouri-Columbia (MU) and Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City
developed the technology. The technology has been incorporated into a test
bed installed on a pickup truck used regularly by the Kansas City Office
of Environmental Quality.
The briquettes are the first technology to meet the 180 to 1
storage to volume target set by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2000, a
long-term goal of principal project leader Peter Pfeifer of MU.
"We are very excited about this breakthrough because it may
lead to a flat and compact tank that would fit under the floor of a
passenger car, similar to current gasoline tanks," said Pfeifer. "Such a
technology would make natural gas a widely attractive alternative fuel for
everyone."
According to Pfeifer, the absence of such a flatbed tank has
been the principal reason why natural gas, which costs significantly less
than gasoline and diesel and burns more cleanly, is not yet widely used as
a fuel for vehicles.
Standard natural gas storage systems use high-pressure
natural gas that has been compressed to a pressure of 3600 pounds per
square inch and bulky tanks that can take up the space of an entire car
trunk. The carbon briquettes contain networks of pores and channels that
can hold methane at a high density without the cost of extreme
compression, ultimately storing the fuel at a pressure of only 500 pounds
per square inch, the pressure found in natural gas pipelines.
The low pressure of 500 pounds per square inch is central for
crafting the tank into any desired shape, so ultimately, fuel storage
tanks could be thin-walled, slim, rectangular structures affixed to the
underside of the car, not taking up room in the vehicle.
Pfeifer and his colleagues at MU and MRI discovered that that
fractal pore spaces (spaces created by repetition of similar patterns at
different scales) are remarkably efficient at storing natural gas.
"Our project is the first time a carbon storage material has
been made from corncobs, an abundantly available waste product in the
Midwest," said Pfeifer. "The carbon briquettes are made from the cobs that
remain after the kernels have been harvested. The state of Missouri alone
could supply the raw material for more than 10 million cars per year. It
would be a unique opportunity to bring corn to the market for alternative
fuels--corn kernels for ethanol production, and corncob for natural gas
tanks."
The test pickup truck, part of a fleet of more than 200
natural gas vehicles operated by Kansas City, has been in use since
mid-October and the researchers are monitoring the technology's
performance, from mileage data to measurements of the stability of the
briquettes.
In addition to efforts to commercialize the technology, the
researchers are now focusing on the next generation briquette, one that
will store more natural gas and cost less to produce. Pfeifer believes
this next generation of briquette might even hold promise for storing
hydrogen. |
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BREAKTHROUGH!
 |
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Results of modeling studies indicate that attaching
titanium atoms (blue) to the ends of an ethylene molecule (yellow-green)
will result in a capsule-shaped complex that absorbs 10 hydrogen molecules
(red). The results open a new avenue in the pursuit of materials that will
enable efficient solid-state storage of hydrogen.
Credit:
Taner Yildirim, NIST.
Ethylene Suggested for Hydrogen Storage
National Institute for
Standards and Technology
December 7, 2006
The absorbed hydrogen molecules account for about 14 percent of the weight
of the titanium-ethylene complex. That’s about double the Department of
Energy’s minimum target of 6.5 percent for economically practical storage
of hydrogen in a solid state material.
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BREAKTHROUGH!
Reversible, Metal-Free
Hydrogen Activation
Gregory C. Welch, Ronan R. San Juan, Jason D. Masuda, Douglas W. Stephan
Science Magazine November 17, 2006
Although reversible covalent
activation of molecular hydrogen (H2) is a common reaction at transition
metal centers, it has proven elusive in compounds of the lighter elements.
We report that the compound (C6H2Me3)2PH(C6F4)BH(C6F5)2 (Me, methyl),
which we derived through an unusual reaction involving dimesitylphosphine
substitution at a para carbon of tris(pentafluorophenyl) borane, cleanly
loses H2 at temperatures above 100°C. Preliminary kinetic studies reveal
this process to be first order. Remarkably, the dehydrogenated product
(C6H2Me3)2P(C6F4)B(C6F5)2 is stable and reacts with 1 atmosphere of H2 at
25°C to reform the starting complex. Deuteration studies were also carried
out to probe the mechanism. |
A New Record for Absorbing Hydrogen
New Scientist
November 7, 2006
Nanoporous polymers should also be far cheaper to
produce than other materials currently being considered, such as carbon
nanotubes, as they can be made simply using existing manufacturing techniques.
13 European Research Institutions Unite to Develop
Solid State Hydrogen Storage Technology
EU Marie Curie Research Training Network
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Alloy of Hydrogen & Oxygen Made From Water!
Carnegie Institution October
26, 2006 |
Washington, D.C. – Water, the only indispensable ingredient of life, is
just about the most versatile stuff on Earth. Depending on its temperature
we can heat our homes with it, bathe in it, and even strap on skates and
glide across it, to name only the most common of its many forms. When
subjected to high pressures, however, water can take any of more than 15
different forms.
Researchers have now used x-rays to dissociate water at high
pressure to form a solid mixture—an alloy—of molecular oxygen and
molecular hydrogen. The work, by a multi-institutional team* that includes
Russell Hemley and Ho-kwang Mao of Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory,
appears in the October 27 issue of Science.
The researchers subjected a sample of water to extremely high
pressures—about 170,000 times the pressure at sea level (17 Gigapascals)—using
a diamond anvil, and zapped it with high-energy x-rays. Under these
conditions, nearly all the water molecules split apart and re-formed into
a solid alloy of O2 and H2. X-radiation proved to be the key to cleaving
the O-H bonds in water; without it, the water remained in a high-pressure
form of ice known as ice VII—one of at least 15 such variants of ice that
exist under high pressure and variable temperature conditions.
“We managed to hit on just the right level of x-ray energy
input,” explained Hemley. “Any higher, and the radiation tends to pass
right through the sample. Any lower, and the radiation is largely absorbed
by the diamonds in our pressure apparatus.”
This rather narrow range of energy requirement explains why,
in hundreds of previous high-pressure x-ray experiments, the breakdown
reaction had gone undiscovered: most such experiments tend to use more
energetic x-rays. The experiments also required long, multiple-hour
irradiation with x-rays; such long exposures had not been attempted
before.
The researchers put the alloy through its paces, subjecting
it to a range of pressure, temperature, and bombardment with x-ray and
laser radiation. As long as the sample remained under pressure equivalent
to about 10,000 times atmospheric pressure at sea level (1 Gigapascal), it
stood up to this punishment. Although the substance is clearly a
crystalline solid, more experiments are needed to determine its precise
crystal structure.
“The new radiation chemistry at high pressure was
surprising,” said lead author Wendy Mao of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“The new alloy containing the incompatible oxygen and hydrogen molecules
will be a highly energetic material.” |
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Ammonia
The Key to
a Hydrogen
Economy |
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Iowa Energy Center
Thursday and
Friday, October 13-14, 2005
Argonne National Laboratory
 The Great Plains Wind Resource
Bill Leighty, Leighty Foundation
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Efficient Ammonia Production
Jim Gosnell, KBR
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Non-Equatorial Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTC) Applications
William Kumm, Arctic Energies, Ltd.
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Ammonia Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
Greg Hutchison, Royster Clark
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Ammonia Fuel Cell Systems
Jason C. Ganley, Howard University
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Direct Ammonia Fuel Cells for Distributed Power Generation and CHP
Andy McFarlan, Natural Resources Canada
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Ammonia is the Fuel for the Hydrogen-Economy
Karl Kordesch, University of Graz, Austria
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Internal Combustion Engines and Ammonia (Second Report)
Ted Hollinger, Hydrogen Engine Center, Inc.
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Anhydrous Ammonia, Safe Handling in the Retail Fertilizer Market
Ron Demaray, RCI
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Opportunities and Challenges for an Ammonia Fuel Economy
John Holbrook, Pacific Northwest national Laboratory
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Iowa Company Turns to Ammonia
to Solve the Hydrogen Storage Problem
Hydrogen Engine Center
September 19, 2006
Making Engines to Run On Hydrogen, Ammonia
The Chief Engineer
September 19, 2006
Can Ammonia Engine Make Gas Obsolete?
Wired News
May 20, 2006
Internal Combustion Engines and Ammonia
Ted Hollinger
Hydrogen Engine Center
2005 |
|
NANOSPRINGS:
Researchers Work on Hydrogen Energy
Andy Jones The Daily Evergreen (WA)
September 24, 2006
In the past decade, 17
countries have announced national programs to develop hydrogen energy,
according to the September issue of Scientific American. In North America,
more than 30 states and several Canadian provinces are developing similar
plans, although the U.S. has not implemented a national program.
Another issue with hydrogen protection has been the use of gas emissions
required to produce the fuels, McCluskey said. To reduce emissions, other
alternative sources, such as solar cells and wind turbines, need to be
mass-produced to provide the energy.
British Scientists Develop New Hydrogen Storage Material
Fuel Cell Today (UK)
September
8, 2006
Getting Hydrogen Storage Just Right
Chemical Science
August 10, 2006
|
|
HYDROGEN STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH!
“Professor Ihm’s remarkable discovery will
immediately open the era of hydrogen-fueled vehicles.”
-- Kim
Jong-won, Director
High Efficiency Hydrogen Energy Development Project Group |
|
Jisoon Ihm
|
South Korean Scientists Discover Matter for Hydrogen Storage
The Hankyoreh (South Korea)
August 5, 2006 |
|
Professor Ihm discovered that the hydrogen can be stored in
solid matter in normal temperatures and pressures by attaching a titanium
atom to a polymer. Hydrogen, the gaseous matter, can be stably stored in
the material, allowing for its immediate application in hydrogen vehicles.
With the storage efficiency for commercialization of Professor Lim’s new
material at 7.6 percent, surpassing that targeted by the U.S. Department
of Energy 6.5 percent, his discovery is expected to draw interest from
automobile makers worldwide.
|
|
Nanodiamonds Shed H2 in Mystery Process
Penn State June 23,
2006 |
"The idea we explored was based on ball milling graphite processes found
in the hydrogen storage literature," said Angela D. Lueking, assistant
professor of energy and geoenvironmental engineering. "We substituted
anthracite coal for graphite because it is abundant and inexpensive. Now,
with 20/20 hindsight, we are struck by the fact that coal gasification is
currently the most economical way to produce hydrogen."
..."Ball milling imparts a lot of energy to the slurry," said
Lueking. "There is high pressure and temperature in every impact of the
balls on the slurry, but we do not really understand the structural
changes in the carbon that occur in the process."
Lueking is puzzled because, unlike the graphite experiments,
her anthracite experiment has hydrogen gas evolving from the mixture at
room temperature. The hydrogen is either trapped in the material in a
tight pore structure or a new carbon structure is being formed. The
hydrogen outgassing continued for about a year and increased with addition
of moderate heat.
"At first we thought the mass spectrograph was broken because
hydrogen was just coming off," said Lueking. "We tried another mass spec
and the same thing happened."
Wanting to know the structure of the ball milled product, and
looking for carbon nanotubes, the researchers used transmission electron
microscopy to investigate the small particles.
"When Gutierrez asked, 'do you know you have diamonds here?'
our answer was no – we were not expecting to make diamonds,” Lueking said.
What the researchers had were Bucky diamonds, a
nanocrystalline diamond surrounded by onion–like layers of graphite.
Diamonds are a natural form of pure carbon, but with a differing molecular
structure than graphite or the graphite-like coal.
"Bucky diamonds are relatively unexplored in terms of
applications," said Lueking. "Nanocrystalline diamonds, however, have
major industrial uses as abrasives and in electronics. These nanodiamonds
are usually created by exploding TNT in a carbon source."
more |
GAME CHANGER?
STUNNING DEVELOPMENT IN
HYDROGEN STORAGE
"This storage technology allows
hydrogen, normally a gas, to be stored and transported at normal temperatures in
a liquid form like conventional fuels."
Guido Pez, Chief Scientist
Corporate Science and Technology Center at
Air Products
Air Products Researchers Receive
Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Award
Air Products
June 13, 2006
Reversible Liquid Carriers for an Integrated Production, Storage and Delivery of
Hydrogen DOE Hydrogen Program 2005
Guido P. Pez, Bernard Toseland
Air Products & Chemicals
Hydrogen Storage
by the Reversible Hydrogenation of Liquid and Solid Substrates
Alan C. Cooper and Guido P. Pez Air Products
May 25, 2004
Design and Development of New Carbon-Based Sorbent Systems
for an Effective Containment of Hydrogen
Alan Cooper, Guido Pez, Hansong Cheng, Aaron Scott, Don Fowler, Atteye
Abdourazak Air Products and Chemicals
DOE Hydrogen Program Annual Progress Report 2004
NANOMIX:
Carbon Storage Breakthrough?
Nanomix
June 12, 2006
NEW
DOE
SOLICITATION
Due Date: May 10, 2006
Research and Development for On-Board Vehicular Hydrogen Storage
|
Professor Omar Yaghi
UCLA, University of
Michigan Chemists Report Progress in Quest to Use Hydrogen as Fuel for
Cars & Electronic Devices
University of California, Los Angeles
March 6, 2006
Chemists at UCLA and the University
of Michigan report an advance toward the goal of cars that run on hydrogen
rather than gasoline. While the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that
practical hydrogen fuel will require concentrations of at least 6.5
percent, the chemists have achieved concentrations of 7.5 percent — nearly
three times as much as has been reported previously — but at a very low
temperature (77 degrees Kelvin).
The research, scheduled to be published in late March in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society, could lead to a hydrogen fuel
that powers not only cars, but laptop computers, cellular phones, digital
cameras and other electronic devices as well.
"We have a class of materials in which we can change the
components nearly at will," said Omar Yaghi, UCLA professor of chemistry,
who conducted the research with colleagues at the University of Michigan.
"There is no other class of materials where one can do that. The exciting
discovery we are reporting is that, using a new material, we have
identified a clear path for how to get above seven percent of the
material's weight in hydrogen."
The materials, which Yaghi invented in the early 1990s, are
called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), pronounced "moffs," which are like
scaffolds made of linked rods — a structure that maximizes the surface
area. MOFs, which have been described as crystal sponges, have pores,
openings on the nanoscale in which Yaghi and his colleagues can store
gases that are usually difficult to store and transport. MOFs can be made
highly porous to increase their storage capacity; one gram of a MOF has
the surface area of a football field! Yaghi's laboratory has made more
than 500 MOFs, with a variety of properties and structures.
"We have achieved 7.5 percent hydrogen; we want to achieve
this percent at ambient temperatures," said Yaghi, a member of the
California NanoSystems Institute. "We can store significantly more
hydrogen with the MOF material than without the MOF."
MOFs can be made from low-cost ingredients, such as zinc
oxide — a common ingredient in sunscreen — and terephthalate, which is
found in plastic soda bottles.
"MOFs will have many applications. Molecules can go in and
out of them unobstructed. We can make polymers inside the pores with
well-defined and predictable properties. There is no limit to what
structures we can get, and thus no limit to the applications."
In the push to develop hydrogen fuel cells to power cars,
cell phones and other devices, one of the biggest challenges has been
finding ways to store large amounts of hydrogen at the right temperatures
and pressures. Yaghi and his colleagues have now demonstrated the ability
to store large amounts of hydrogen at the right pressure; in addition,
Yaghi has ideas about how to modify the rod-like components to store
hydrogen at ambient temperatures (0–45°C).
"A decade ago, people thought methane would be impossible to
store; that problem has been largely solved by our MOF materials. Hydrogen
is a little more challenging than methane, but I am optimistic."
Yaghi, 41, has reason to be optimistic since only a handful
of MOFs have been tested for hydrogen storage thus far. This is not
unreasonable given that MOFs are composed of an inorganic component — a
metal oxide — and an organic component; he can control their assembly into
new structures nearly at will.
How would hydrogen work in devices like cell phones, laptop
computers and digital cameras?
"Instead of a battery, one would have a medium such as MOF
that stores hydrogen and releases it into a fuel cell," he said.
Yaghi, whose research overlaps chemistry, materials science
and engineering, has long been interested in making materials in a
rational way.
"When I started out in chemistry, I always thought it should
be possible to take two well‑defined molecules as building blocks and
stitch them together into a predetermined chemical structure — almost like
you produce a blueprint of the structure ahead of time and then find the
right building blocks necessary to build it. In this way, one can control
the structure and the composition. This approach was difficult to
implement at the beginning, but is not so difficult at this stage."
Hydrogen, when burned, produces only water, which is harmless
to the environment, Yaghi noted. With MOFs, hydrogen is physically
absorbed, and it is easy to take the hydrogen out and put it back in
without much energy cost, he said.
"The challenge has been, how do you store enough hydrogen for
an automobile to run for 300 to 400 miles without refueling?" Yaghi asked.
"You have to concentrate the hydrogen into a small volume without using
high pressure of very low temperature.
"Our idea was to create a material with pores that attract
hydrogen, making it possible to stuff more hydrogen molecules into a small
volume," he said.
In previous research, Yaghi and colleagues reported that MOFs
also can store large amounts of methane (natural gas).
"We have materials that exceed the DOE requirements for
methane, and we think we can apply the same sort of strategy for hydrogen
storage," he said.
Additionally, Yaghi has shown that MOFs store prodigious
amounts of carbon dioxide at ambient conditions, a development relevant to
preventing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and automobile
tailpipes from reaching the atmosphere.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation,
the U.S. Department of Energy and BASF (a global chemical company based in
Germany).
Co-authors of the present research report, which Yaghi
conducted when he was on the faculty at the University of Michigan, are
Adam Matzger, assistant professor of chemistry at Michigan, and Antek
Wong-Foy, chemistry research associate at Michigan.
Contact: Stuart Wolpert (
swolpert@support.ucla.edu ) Phone: 310-206-0511 |
Brookhaven Scientists Working Toward
Practical Hydrogen-Storage Materials
Laura Mgrdichian
Brookhaven National Lab
March 15, 2006
Increased Solar Cell Efficiency and Hydrogen Production
With Titania Nanotubes
Azonano
January 31, 2006
Chemist Seeks Way to Make
Hydrogen Stick
Doug Main Washington University
in St. Louis (MO) November
2, 2005
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Unlocks a Secret of Ammonia
HYDROGEN STORAGE:
Filling Up with Hydrogen
David Schneider
American
Scientist Sept/Oct 2005 |
|
The surprising report, which
appeared last June in the journal Angewandte Chemie, describes a way of storing hydrogen
in the form of the compound ammonia borane, NH3BH3. Tom Autrey of the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory led the group of 12 authors who published the work. It builds on the
decades-old idea of storing hydrogen in the form of ammonia, NH3. Unlike hydrogen gas,
which requires cryogenic temperatures to liquefy, ammonia becomes a liquid at -34 degrees
Celsius. |
|
|
DENMARK
Hydrogen Pill Raises Fuel Hopes
Copenhagen Post
September
7, 2005
The Role of Titanium in Hydrogen
Storage
Brookahven National Laboratory
September 1, 2005
How Hydride-Based Hydrogen Compressors Work
Hera Hydrogen Storage Systems
New Look for Hydrogen Storage
Physics Web
July 19, 2005
$2 Billion Market in Nanopore
Physorg.com
July 15, 2005
Nano-Graphite
May Store H2 Gas
Physorg.com
July 14, 2005
'Metal-Decorated'
Nanotubes
Hold Promise for Fuel Cells
National Institute for Standards & Technology
May 3, 2005 |
New quantum calculations and computer models show
that carbon nanotubes "decorated" with titanium or other transition metals can
latch on to hydrogen molecules in numbers more than adequate for efficient hydrogen
storage, a capability key to long-term efforts to develop fuel cells, an affordable
non-polluting alternative to gasoline.
National Institute of Standards and Technology theorist Taner Yildirim
and physicist Salim Ciraci of Turkey's Bilkent University report their
"unanticipated" findings in the online issue of Physical Review Letters.*
 Using established quantum
physics theory, they predict that hydrogen can amass in amounts equivalent to 8 percent of
the weight of "titanium-decorated" singled walled carbon nanotubes. That's
one-third better than the 6 percent minimum storage-capacity requirement set by the
FreedomCar Research Partnership involving the Department of Energy and the nation's
"Big 3" automakers.
As important, the four hydrogen molecules (two atoms each) that link to
a titanium atom are relinquished readily when heated. Such reversible desorption is
another requirement for practical hydrogen storage.
Resembling exceedingly small cylinders of chicken wire, so-called
single-walled carbon nanotubes are among several candidate materials eyed for hydrogen
storage. Reaching the 6 percent target, however, has proved difficult—a potential
"showstopper," according to many in the field. Positioning a titanium atom above
the center of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms (the repeating geometric pattern
characteristic of carbon nanotubes) appears to resolve the impasse according to this new
study.
The new results, obtained with a method for calculating the electronic
structure of materials, surprised the researchers. Interactions among carbon, titanium and
hydrogen seem to give rise to unusual attractive forces. The upshot is that four hydrogen
molecules can dock on a titanium atom, apparently by means of a unique chemical bond of
modest strength. Several forces at work within the geometric arrangement appear to play a
role in the reversible tethering of hydrogen, Yildirim says.
Yildirim and Ciraci report that their findings "suggest a possible
method of engineering new nanostructures for high-capacity storage and catalyst
materials." The work was funded, in part, by the Department of Energy and National
Science Foundation.
*T. Yildirim and S. Ciraci, "Titanium-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes as a Potential
High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage Medium", Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, p. 175501 (2005).
More information such as animation of the reaction paths and MD simulations can be
obtained at www.ncnr.nist.gov/staff/taner/h2.
CONTACT: Mark Bello, (301) 975-3776 Contact: inquiries@nist.gov
|
| Transition Metal-Decorated
Nanotubes and C 60; High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage Medium
Taner Yildirim NIST
April 25,
2005 |
BREAKTHROUGH |
Prof. Huen Lee |
"We will be able to store hydrogen inside ice at a near-ambient
temperature of 0 degrees Celsius and use it as a fuel or for other purposes with the
addition of heat that frees hydrogen from ice." |
 |
Hydrogen Storage
Solved?
Korean Scientist Says
Just Freeze
Water in an
Organic Metal Mixture!
Kim Tae-gyu Korea Times April
7, 2005 |
A team of international
scientists have found an affordable way to store hydrogen, the element many researchers
believe is the key to the world’s future energy problems.
The team, headed by Korea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology professor Huen Lee, yesterday said they uncovered the hydrogen
storage mechanism by researching ice.
"Purified water does not have a space to embed hydrogen
but we found water combined with organic metals creates a nano-space to stably hoard
hydrogen at about 0 degrees Celsius when water turns to ice," Lee said.
...Lee claimed his team’s new technology of
piling up hydrogen inside ice without any treatment will become the industry standard for
hydrogen storage in the future.
...Lee’s team applied for international patents for the
breakthrough. The finding will be featured in the next edition of the science journal
Nature as the ``Feature of the Week,’’ or the most prominent report in the
issuance. |
| UNITED STATES PACIFIC
NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY |
ammonia borane |
BREAKTHROUGH
Big Hopes for Tiny, New
Hydrogen Storage Material
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory March 21, 2005 |
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
have found a way to release hydrogen from a solid compound almost 100 times faster than
was previously possible furthering hopes for a viable hydrogen storage medium. |
...Recently, PNNL researchers Tom
Autrey and Anna Gutowska found a way to release hydrogen from a solid compound almost 100
times faster than was previously possible.
..."The compound ammonia borane is known to release hydrogen at
temperatures below 80 degrees Celsius, but the rate of release is extremely slow,"
said Autrey. "In the nanophase, the hydrogen comes off very fast – approximately
100 times faster compared to conventional bulk ammonia borane."
...The nanoscience approach to using ammonia borane as a storage
material exceeds DOE's weight and volume storage goals for 2010. As a bonus, it also
avoids the volatile chemicals produced at the bulk scale.
"We found no detectable borazine, which is harmful to fuel cells,
produced by the reaction in the mesoporous materials," said Autrey.
Based on computational thermodynamic analysis, researchers believe the
process may eventually be designed to be reversible, which would allow the storage
material to be regenerated and provide a sustainable hydrogen storage compound with a
longer lifetime.
more |
DELIVERING LIQUID HYDROGEN TO
SPACE
SHUTTLE ENGINE TESTS
The Stennis Space Center NASA
Tugboat
The Sun Herald (Mississippi)
March 4, 2005
| NETHERLANDS |
Delft
University of Technology Researcher Sees Higher Temperature Fuel Cells and Magnesium
Hydride as Key to Hydrogen Storage in Cars
Innovations Report January 27, 2005 |
|
Hydrogen storage in this kind of metal hydrides has been researched for a long time, but
according to Schimmel, the problem remains that too much energy and too high a temperature
is needed to extract the hydrogen from the compound, which negatively effects the
efficiency of the process. Schimmel points out that an adjustment in the fuel cell itself
may provide a solution. If the fuel cell were to work at a higher temperature than normal
(between 200 and 300 °C in stead of 80 °C for most current fuel cells), then the
‘excess heat’ from the fuel cell could be used to efficiently extract hydrogen
from the storage tank. In this way, the storage of hydrogen using magnesium powder could
be a very interesting option. An additional advantage of a higher working temperature is
that less deterioration of the catalysts takes place. The latter is also the reason that
there is a great demand for new types of fuel cells. |
GM Joins with U.S. National
Lab
to Advance Hydrogen Storage
Partnership with Sandia National Laboratories focuses on
solid-state storage
General Motors/PRNewswire
January 6, 2005 |
|
General
Motors Corp. and Sandia National Laboratories have launched a partnership to design and
test an advanced method for storing hydrogen based on metal hydrides. Metal hydrides --
formed when metal alloys are combined with hydrogen -- can absorb and store hydrogen
within their structures. When subjected to heat, the hydrides release their hydrogen. In a
fuel cell system, the hydrogen can then be combined with oxygen to produce electricity. GM
and Sandia have embarked on a 4-year, $10 million program to develop and test tanks that
store hydrogen in sodium aluminum hydride -- or sodium alanate for short. The goal is to
develop a pre-prototype solid-state hydrogen storage tank that would store more hydrogen
onboard than other hydrogen storage methods currently in use. Researchers also hope to
create a tank design that could be adaptable to any type of solid-state hydrogen storage.
"Hydrides have shown significant early promise to one day increase the range of fuel
cell vehicles," says Jim Spearot, director, GM Advanced Hydrogen Storage Program.
"We know a lot of research still needs to be done, both on the types of hydrides we
use, as well as the tanks we store them in. We think our work on projects like this with
Sandia will get us another step closer to our goal." GM and Sandia say this is part
of a concerted effort to find a way to store enough hydrogen onboard a fuel cell vehicle
to equal the driving range of current gasoline technology. Getting a fuel cell vehicle to
at least equal the range people are used to getting on a tank of gas is key to customer
acceptance of fuel cell vehicles. The current leading methods of storage are liquid and
compressed gas. However, to date, neither of these technologies has been able to provide
the needed range and running time for fuel cell vehicles. "We are designing a
hydrogen storage system with challenging thermal management requirements and limits on
volume and weight, said Chris Moen, manager of science and engineering technologies at
Sandia. "Our staff researchers are excited to apply their unique, science-based
design and analysis capabilities to engineer a viable solution." The project will be
conducted in two phases. In Phase One, the program will study engineering designs for a
sodium alanate storage tank. Researchers will analyze these designs using thermal and
mechanical modeling, develop controls systems for hydrogen transfer and storage, and
develop designs for external heat management. GM and Sandia scientists will also be
testing various shapes -- from cylindrical to semi-conformable -- to see which are the
most promising. In Phase Two, researchers will subject promising tank designs to rigorous
safety testing and ultimately fabricate pre-prototype sodium alanate hydrogen storage
tanks based on the learnings from the program's first phase. A possible scenario for a
customer to fill up their fuel cell vehicle using a solid-state storage system such as
sodium alanate could look like this: The Alanate would come preloaded in the tank, where
it would remain, giving up its hydrogen, and becoming a mixture of sodium hydride and
aluminum. The customer would refuel at a hydrogen pump using gaseous hydrogen. During
filling, the mixture of aluminum and sodium hydride would absorb the hydrogen and turn it
back into alanate, which would be ready to yield hydrogen when needed by the fuel cell
system. Once the tank is filled, hydrogen would be stored at low pressure. While they have
shown good potential, hydride-based hydrogen storage systems also have hurdles to clear.
One current drawback is that most complex metal hydrides still operate at too high a
temperature, which causes an inefficiency that forces some of the hydrogen to be used up
in order to release the remaining hydrogen. Another challenge is reducing the time it
takes to reabsorb hydrogen. It currently takes at least 30 minutes to recharge. In
separate, independent projects outside of this collaboration, both GM and Sandia are each
are hard at work on research to identify alloys that will store greater amounts of
hydrogen that can be released at lower temperatures. Reducing filling and recharging times
is key for customer acceptance. The research conducted by the GM - Sandia partnership is
independent from Sandia's virtual Center of Excellence for metal hydride-based hydrogen
storage. The Center, funded through a Department of Energy "Grand Challenge",
aims to develop a class of materials capable of storing hydrogen safely and economically.
|
HYDROGEN
- Are Production and Storage Technologies
Robust Enough to Deliver It?
Viswanathan Krishnan Frost &
Sullivan
January 5, 2005
Nested Metal-organic Frameworks as Possible Novel Hydrogen
Storage Materials
Chemie.de
January 5, 2005 |
The success of hydrogen technology for driving
vehicles depends on the storage of hydrogen, for which a truly satisfying solution has yet
to be found. A team of scientists from the University of North Carolina and the United
States Department of Energy has now developed a metal-organic material whose cavities keep
hydrogen molecules "trapped"-this may be a new prototype for the design of new
storage media.
The team led by Wenbin Lin works with compounds of the metal zinc and
special organic molecules with six to eight aromatic six-membered rings as their central
structural element. Aromatic rings are important because they strongly attract hydrogen
molecules.
It turns out that these metal-organic building blocks crystallize in
the form of a three-dimensional grid with very large cubic cavities. What is unusual in
this case is that four of these grids are partially pushed into each other, which causes
them to overlap. The cubic cavities thus get correspondingly smaller. These tiny
"caves" are accessible from the outside by means of open channels. When the
crystal is freshly formed, the cavities are first unevenly occupied by solvent molecules.
These "guests" can easily be completely removed without causing the framework to
collapse.
The empty cavities can take up hydrogen molecules. At a pressure of 48
bar, it was possible to store 1.12 (for the compound with six rings) to 0.98 (compound
with eight rings) percent by weight of hydrogen-and to release it. This storage capacity
is about equivalent to that of carbon nanotubes, another material being considered for
hydrogen storage. In comparison with record holders in their own class of metal-organic
porous frameworks, the two newcomers are only slightly inferior. The best of the class owe
their superiority to their five- to ten-fold higher interior surface area.
How is it that these two new metal-organic frameworks can store
hydrogen so well, without an especially high surface area or a particularly large pore
volume? Because of the multiple nested grids, the hydrogen molecules in the cavities come
into contact with a larger number of aromatic rings than they do in pores of ordinary
single grids. The hydrogen is well and truly trapped. "The trapping mechanism of our
highly aromatic, strongly interlocking grid structure," says Lin," could point
to a new path for the development of effective metal-organic hydrogen storage
materials." |
Development of Microsphere
Production
for Hydrogen Storage
James Shelby and Matthew Hall, NYSCC at Alfred
University
Robert Doremus, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Center for Environmental and Energy Research at Alfred University
Linde state-of-the-art liquid hydrogen storage
uses liquified air as an insulator. Will nanotechnology
bring the storage benefits of liquid hydrogen
even closer to commercialization?
BREAKTHROUGH!
|
"These
advancements lower the
weight and raise the storage
temperature of liquid hydrogen,
dramatically reducing costs."
David McDonald, CEO and President of Nanomix
Hydrogen Storage
Advancements
for Vehicle and Fuel Cell Power
Nanomix Receives Two U.S. Patents in Alternative Energy
Nanomix
December 9,
2004 |
The patent describes the low temperature storage of
hydrogen using novel nanostructured materials including light elements, so as to permit
non-chemically-bound low-pressure storage of hydrogen. Typically hydrogen is stored at 20
K, Nanomix technology makes
storage possible at temperatures greater than the liquefaction temperature of nitrogen, 77
K. This innovation has the potential to make hydrogen storage much more cost effective and
has been successfully prototyped by Nanomix. The system employs a combination of thermal
insulation and a cold enclosure for the storage and controlled distribution of hydrogen as
a high-energy fuel. This setup largely avoids the storage life limitations, energy
penalties, and/or weight penalties associated with other technologies for liquid hydrogen
storage as well as high-pressure gas-phase hydrogen storage.
|
FROM THE
ARCHIVES
"A New Technology for Hydrogen Storage"
Nanotubes in Fuel Tanks and Nanohorns in Fuel Cells
Presented to Fall Meeting of the California Hydrogen Business Council
South Coast Air Quality Management District, Diamond Bar, California |
Jeff D. Wyatt Covalent Materials (now
Nanomix) |
PowerPoint
RealVideo
RealAudio
Windows Audio
Get
RealPlayer
© 2001 VIMS
November 7, 2001
|
An
Interview with Jeff Wyatt
Nanomix's Director of Business Development
Part 1
Part 2
by Bill Moore EV World
August
17, 2002 |
| POTENTIAL
BREAKTHROUGH IN HYDROGEN STORAGE |
UNITED KINGDOM
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL |
October 15, 2004
|
New
Research May be Key to Hydrogen Cars
Mark Colvin and Mark Horstman
Australian
Broadcasting |
| One gram of hydrogen gas takes up about 11 liters of space, and
to squash it into a liquid takes immense pressures and cryogenic temperatures. So fitting
liquid hydrogen tanks to your car is not very practical or cheap. But published today in
the international journal Science is a paper you might have missed: Hysteretic Adsorption and
Desorption of Hydrogen by Nanoporous Metal Organic Frameworks. Roughly tra0.nslated,
this heralds the discovery of a nanoporous crystal that works at tiny scales to receive
hydrogen gas at high pressures and store it at safer lower pressures. |
-
Chemical Keeps
Hydrogen on Ice
TRN
December 1, 2004
One of the challenges in using pure hydrogen as fuel is finding ways to
store the hydrogen that do not involve high pressures and low temperatures.
Researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, the
Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand have devised a
new way to store hydrogen at low pressure and a temperature that is just above freezing.
The work is a step toward practical hydrogen storage for vehicles.
The researchers have demonstrated that it's possible to store hydrogen
clusters at low-pressure within a clathrate hydrate, or ice-like framework of water
molecules that form large and small cages capable of trapping other molecules.
Key to the method is a promoter molecule, tetrahydrofuran, that
occupies the large water cages while the small water cages are occupied by hydrogen. This
allows hydrogen to be stored at much lower pressure within the clathrate hydrate than the
pressure needed to store just hydrogen.
Without the promoter molecule, clathrate hydrate hydrogen storage
requires 300 megapascals, which is 2,961 atmospheres of pressure, at 6.85 degrees Celsius.
The promoter molecule enables storage at five megapascals, or 49 atmospheres, at about the
same temperature.
-
Tetrahydrofuran
Lyondell
Based on information currently available, this product is not known to contain any
chemicals currently listed as carcinogens or reproductive toxins under California
Proposition 65 at levels which would be subject to this proposition.
|
SINGAPORE
The Straits Times
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
August 17, 2004 |
Team Leader
Chen Ping |
National
University of Singapore Develops Lithium Nitride Storage of Hydrogen
- Claims
11.4% Hydrogen-by-Weight World Record
Christopher
Tan
Dr Chen Ping, a 36-year-old chemist from China's
Shandong province, is spearheading research into storing hydrogen in a solid medium,
lithium nitride, and releasing it on demand - like electricity from a battery. ...Dr Chen
literally stumbled upon how hydrogen can be bonded to solids six years ago, soon after
joining NUS after graduating from Xiamen University |
| with a doctorate. She was working on nano materials when she found that lithium
reacted with hydrogen at high temperatures. In 2001, that accidental discovery was
repeated and verified. 'We achieved a storage capacity almost twice that of the best
existing solid-state hydrogen storage material,' she recounted with excitement. 'We
submitted the results to Nature. To our delight, they published it in their November 2002
issue.' Her pioneering work soon won her global recognition, and she has been invited to
address the major carmakers as well as government agencies and universities in Japan. She
was also invited to visit California-based Sandia National Laboratories - a leading state
defence technology provider - and worked there as a guest consultant in May and June this
year. Now the US Department of Energy wants her to join its Annual Review Meeting of
Hydrogen Project. |
| CALIFORNIA |
Energy Conversion Devices August 16, 2004 |
Solid H2 Storage Powers a
Practical Hydrogen Hybrid Vehicle
One of those crucial elements, along with an expanding "Hydrogen
Highway Network" fueling infrastructure, is the ability to outfit vehicles with safe
and efficient on-board hydrogen storage. Texaco Ovonic Hydrogen Systems LLC (TOHS), a
joint venture of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. and ChevronTexaco Technology
Ventures LLC, is demonstrating how this can be achieved through the use of its
metal-hydride hydrogen storage system in a modified hydrogen-electric variant of today's
best-selling hybrid sedan. TOHS' solid hydrogen storage system works by absorbing hydrogen
in a metal powder, with the hydrogen and powder bonding at the atomic level upon contact.
Removing heat drives this absorption process. Hydrogen is released out of the metal powder
and into the vehicle's fuel system by adding heat to reverse the chemical reaction. Those
who have driven the modified hydrogen hybrid vehicle say the system works as seamlessly as
the more conventional gasoline tank and fuel pump systems found in today's automobiles.
This converted hydrogen hybrid has led to a follow-on South Coast AQMD program that will
add five more hybrid sedans modified to run on hydrogen stored in TOHS' solid hydrogen
storage medium by next spring. |
9:00 pm Friday, August 6, 2004
Vancouver, Canada
LIQUID HYDROGEN TANKER TRUCK
RUPTURE AND FIRE AT BALLARD
WHY WON'T IT EXPLODE LIKE THE HINDENBURG??
HYDROGEN DISAPPOINTS PRESS
Press redefines words "Explosion" and "Crash" to sensationalize
mishap.
Now a hydrogen ignition pop is an EXPLOSION!!!!
Now a 2 mph backing mistake is a CRASH!!!
Only the Vancouver Sun reports the incident well
"Disaster Averted
Outside Ballard Power Building"
Vancouver Sun
August 7, 2004
FIZZLE: Is Hydrogen "Safe?"
NO CRASH
NO DAMAGING EXPLOSION
FIRE EXTINGUISHED
NO DAMAGE REPORTED!
Hysterical Canadian Press
article screams "Explosion!"
Statement re: August 6, 2004
incident at Ballard Power Systems
For product information, please
contact: Marketing Department
t) 604.453.3520
f) 604.412.3100
marketing@ballard.com
Vancouver, Canada -
On
Friday, August 6 2004, at approximately 9:30 PM, a hydrogen fuel leak in a Praxair tanker
truck led to an explosion and fire outside Ballard’s manufacturing facility located
at 4343 North Fraser Way in Burnaby, British Columbia. The incident occurred as Praxair
was preparing to transfer liquid hydrogen from a tanker truck to Ballard’s hydrogen
bulk storage tank. There was no damage to any of Ballard’s facilities or equipment
and the only person injured in the accident was the Praxair driver, who received minor
burns to his face and hands.
When the Burnaby Fire Department arrived on scene, hydrogen gas escaping
from the leak in the truck was still burning. The Fire Department decided to evacuate the
area around the facility as a precaution. The fire was extinguished early Saturday morning
when a Praxair technician isolated the leak by shutting off a valve. Once it was
determined that there was no further leakage from the truck, it was declared road worthy
and the driver drove the truck to the Praxair facility in Delta, B.C. for further
investigation into the root cause of the accident.
Ballard’s facilities were inspected and given the go ahead to be
restarted on Saturday. Everything is back to business as usual at Ballard.
This incident highlights the relative safety of hydrogen fuel. Had the
leakage and resulting fire been gasoline, or propane related, the situation could have
been far more severe. In this case, Ballard’s emergency response personnel reacted as
trained, Ballard’s safety systems operated as designed, the fire crews were able to
manage the hydrogen fuel safely and effectively, and the only injury sustained was a minor
one. This incident also demonstrates the strength of Ballard’s commitment to safety.
Safety is our top priority and we are committed to providing the systems, procedures and
training necessary to ensure a safe environment for our employees and a safe product for
our customers. |
|
Commentary by Richard D. Masters:
"I hauled gasoline and jet fuel for seven
years. The only response to a payload fire was to run like hell. It was impossible to put
out a fire. Anything, anyone in the vicinity would be consumed. The truck and tank trailer
and the roadway itself would melt. However, real world |
experience is indicating that hydrogen
is actually much safer than gasoline to transport. It is so much lighter than air
that it just rockets skyward, displacing the oxygen necessary to support combustion.
"Although in theory, under certain conditions,
hydrogen accidents might be capable of inflicting widespread havoc, after 100 years of
handling hydrogen, we have yet to see this happen on anywhere near the scale of what the
terrible destructive power of gravity-loving gasoline has wrought." |
Gasoline tanker on fire July 13, 2004
Highway 5 - Seattle, Washington |
THE INCREDIBLE
HISTORY
OF LIQUID HYDROGEN
see "Is Hydrogen a Practical
Fuel?" Part II, Chapter 8
for NASA's early experience with liquid H2:
"Tests were devised in which tanks containing liquid hydrogen under pressure
were ruptured. In many cases, the hydrogen quickly escaped without ignition. The
experimenters then provided a rocket squib (a small powder charge) to ignite the escaping,
hydrogen. The resulting fireball quickly dissipated because of the rapid flame speed of
hydrogen and its low density.
"Containers of hydrogen and gasoline were placed
side by side and ruptured. When the hydrogen can was ruptured and ignited, the flame
quickly dissipated, but when the same thing was done with gasoline, the gasoline and flame
stayed near the container and did much more damage.
"The gasoline fire was an order of magnitude more
severe than the hydrogen fire. The experimenters tried to induce hydrogen to explode, with
limited success. In 61 attempts, only two explosions occurred and in both, they had to mix
oxygen with the hydrogen. Their largest explosion was produced by mixing a half liter of
liquid oxygen with a similar volume of liquid hydrogen.
"Johnson and Rich were convinced that, with proper
care, liquid hydrogen could be handled quite safely and was a practical fuel-a conclusion
that was amply verified by the space program in the 1960s."
-- John L. Sloop, NASA |
| DOE OFFICE OF HYDROGEN,
FUEL CELLS & INFRASTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGIES |
Hydrogen Storage
Antonio Bouza, Carole J. Read, Sunita Satyapal, JoAnn Milliken
|
 |
The State of the Art will help in the near-term, but is
impractical for the long-term. Compressed and liquid hydrogen tanks [will] enable
vehicle/infrastructure learning demonstrations & initial market penetration but] have
limited range & high energy penalty (liquid), preventing full market penetration; are
approaching their weight & volume limits; may have off-board storage applications.
DOE R&D focus is on materials-based storage technologies. |
| UNITED TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH CENTER
HCI QUESTEK |
High Density Hydrogen Storage System Demonstration Using NaAlH4
Complex Compound Hydrides
D.L. AntonD.A. Mosher, S.M. Opalka, United
Technologies Research Center;
F.E. Lynch, HCI;
C. Qiu, G.B. OlsenQuesTek
Develop, scale-up, build, bench demonstrate an in-siturechargeable 1 kg system and
deliver a 5 kg H2capacity hydrogen storage systemsuitable for operation of a PEMFC powered
mid-size auto application based. |
HYDROGEN STORAGE 1 2
|
|
