Engineering Solutions in Scale-up and Tank Design for Metal Hydrides

Abstract

A holistic approach is required for the development of materials and systems for hydrogen storage, embracing all the different steps involved in a successful advance of the technology. The several engineering solutions presented in this work try to address the technical challenges in synthesis and application of solid-state hydrogen storage materials, mainly metal hydride based compounds. Moving from the synthesis of samples in lab-scale to the production of industrial sized batches a novel process development is required, including safety approaches (for hazardous powders), and methods to prevent the contamination of sensitive chemicals. The reduction of overall costs has to be addressed as well, considering new sources for raw materials and more cost-efficient catalysts. The properties of the material itself influence the performances of the hydride in a pilot storage tank, but the characteristics of the system itself are crucial to investigate the reaction limiting steps and overcome hindrances. For this, critical experiments using test tanks are needed, learning how to avoid issues as material segregation or temperature gradients, and optimizing the design in the aspects of geometry, hull material, and test station facilities. The following step is a useful integration of the hydrogen storage system into real applications, with other components like fuel cells or hydrogen generators: these challenging scenarios provide insights to design new experiments and allow stimulating demonstrations.