Research & Development-HyCare - Plant Apparatus Tank Welding Construction

Until now, hydrogen is stored as gas under high pressure or as liquid in tanks. This produces on one hand high costs for compression and liquefaction. On the other hand, there are high safety standards for such a plant and high costs for running and maintenance. To store hydrogen in metal hydrides at significant lower pressure by using phase change material is an alternative way. The plant can be designed more compact and efficient. Consequently, the hydrogen storage technology can widening the field of possible applications.

The goal of this project is to develop a plant to store 50 kg of hydrogen in metal hydrides. With an innovative heat management, the total efficiency of such plants will increase. It is possible to store renewable energy sustainably and permanently for later use.

The project coordinator is the University of Torino (IT). The project partners are ENGIE Lab H2-CRIGEN (FR), GKN Sinter Metals Engineering GmbH (DE), Tecnodelta srl (IT), Stühff GmbH (DE), Fondazione Bruno Kessler (IT), Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung GmbH (DE), CNRS-Institut de Chimie et des Matériaux (FR) and Institutt for Energieteknikk (NO). In the first step the partners identify a suitable metal hydrid to store hydrogen and corresponding phase change material. The required plant technology is developed in a second step. Essential components are simulated. In the following, the plant is manufactured at Stühff GmbH and next installed in Plaine Saint Denis and Alfortville at Paris (FR) at ENGIE Lab-CRIGEN. There the plant is connected to a fuel cell and an electrolyser and tested under real conditions.

The developed plant verifies the possibility to store 50 kg of hydrogen in metal hydrides by using the energy of the heat of phase change materials. This innovative technology is applicable to all kind of power and heat supply.

For further information please contact the project hompage http://hycare-project.eu/.