Hydrogen, fuel cells and their application
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Faculty of Engineering
Abstract
Novel solid state hydrogen storage materials.Main problem with hydrogen is hydrogen storage because of its very low volumetric energy density, it is being 2700 times less energy dense than gasoline. 1 litre storage will only store 0.03 g of hydrogen at normal pressure. Even storing at 150 bars only retains 10 g/L of hydrogen. Storage at this pressure is very unsafe and hazardous .As per US DOE 2020 targets volumetric capacity of 40 g/L at a pressure lower than 12 bar is required which is still not obtained by any conventional method. The solution is material based storage. Hydrogen can be more effectively stored in solid porous materials like ammonia borane, metal amidoboranes, metal hydrides etc.This project will synthesise new hydrogen rich materials and investigate their potential as hydrogen storage materials."
Planned Impact
The EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) estimates the number of Engineers and Scientists in the Fuel Cells area in Europe to grow from 2 000 in the year 2012, to 17400 in 2020, and over 50 000 by 2030. To the benefit of the UK economy, the CDT in Fuel Cells and their Fuels targets this challenge by offering a structured training programme for doctoral researchers. The CDT will deliver significant cutting edge R&D results that will help move fuel cell and hydrogen (FCH) technologies further towards commercialisation. The CDT will deliver in the areas of
- basic sciences: electrochemistry and characterisation, modelling, catalysis;
- materials sciences: materials and components for low temperature (PEFC) and high temperature fuel cells (SOFC); analysis of fuel cell and electrolyser degradation phenomena at various scales (nano-scale in functional layers up to systems level), including the development of accelerated testing procedures;
- systems engineering: design, components, optimisation and control for fuel cell systems, including hybrid fuel-cell-battery and gas turbine systems; integration of renewable energies into energy systems using hydrogen as a stabilising vector;
- fuel processing: direct use of various hydrocarbon fuels in fuel cell systems (methane, propane, natural gas, biogas, bio-syn-gas from gasification processes, ethanol etc.), hydrocarbon fuel processing and handling of fuel impurities;
- hydrogen production: by electrolysis and from hydrocarbon fuels, from biological processes, and by photochemistry; hydrogen storage and purification; development of low and high temperature electrolysers;
- socio-economics: health issues, public acceptance, economics, market introduction, innovation management; system studies on the benefits of FCH technologies to national and international energy supply.
Industry collaboration will build on the successes of the current CDT in Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and their Applications led by UoB. Industry partners include companies Intelligent Energy, ITM Power, ACAL, EADS, Johnson Matthey, TATA Motors, RRFCS/LG, EON UK, MIBA/Teer Coatings, MIRA, CENEX, and others. The existing CDT has shown that these partners will primarily profit from the training programme in that they receive cutting edge research results and have direct access to the graduating students. All 6 students who have finalised their thesis by 2013 have received offers from named industry partners. Other industry will profit in the mid-term as graduation numbers increase from 2013 onwards and the students venture out into the wider workplace. The total of 50 industry ready students from the existing Centre plus the 77 envisaged by this bid will create an impact by supplying industry leadership and creating UK economic growth.
The academic partners represent a critical mass in student training in the field and are responsible for 15 and more annual PhD graduates in the UK. The reinforcement of a structured education for PhD students will have a major impact on the availability of Human Resources to companies and research centres developing fuel cell products. The delivery of Safety related modules adds a vital element to the training programme. Safety issues today are often not well understood and this element will help ensure that hydrogen technologies are safe in the future and become everyday commodities.
The CDT will link directly with the EPSRC SUPERGEN Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Hub. The Hub will support students from other universities to attend CDT modules. This interaction will intensify the exchange between UK researchers in the field. The interaction with other European training initiatives (Summer Schools, curriculum development) will allow the further development of high quality training materials and grant the Centre students access to placements and exchanges with foreign institutions and industry.
- basic sciences: electrochemistry and characterisation, modelling, catalysis;
- materials sciences: materials and components for low temperature (PEFC) and high temperature fuel cells (SOFC); analysis of fuel cell and electrolyser degradation phenomena at various scales (nano-scale in functional layers up to systems level), including the development of accelerated testing procedures;
- systems engineering: design, components, optimisation and control for fuel cell systems, including hybrid fuel-cell-battery and gas turbine systems; integration of renewable energies into energy systems using hydrogen as a stabilising vector;
- fuel processing: direct use of various hydrocarbon fuels in fuel cell systems (methane, propane, natural gas, biogas, bio-syn-gas from gasification processes, ethanol etc.), hydrocarbon fuel processing and handling of fuel impurities;
- hydrogen production: by electrolysis and from hydrocarbon fuels, from biological processes, and by photochemistry; hydrogen storage and purification; development of low and high temperature electrolysers;
- socio-economics: health issues, public acceptance, economics, market introduction, innovation management; system studies on the benefits of FCH technologies to national and international energy supply.
Industry collaboration will build on the successes of the current CDT in Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and their Applications led by UoB. Industry partners include companies Intelligent Energy, ITM Power, ACAL, EADS, Johnson Matthey, TATA Motors, RRFCS/LG, EON UK, MIBA/Teer Coatings, MIRA, CENEX, and others. The existing CDT has shown that these partners will primarily profit from the training programme in that they receive cutting edge research results and have direct access to the graduating students. All 6 students who have finalised their thesis by 2013 have received offers from named industry partners. Other industry will profit in the mid-term as graduation numbers increase from 2013 onwards and the students venture out into the wider workplace. The total of 50 industry ready students from the existing Centre plus the 77 envisaged by this bid will create an impact by supplying industry leadership and creating UK economic growth.
The academic partners represent a critical mass in student training in the field and are responsible for 15 and more annual PhD graduates in the UK. The reinforcement of a structured education for PhD students will have a major impact on the availability of Human Resources to companies and research centres developing fuel cell products. The delivery of Safety related modules adds a vital element to the training programme. Safety issues today are often not well understood and this element will help ensure that hydrogen technologies are safe in the future and become everyday commodities.
The CDT will link directly with the EPSRC SUPERGEN Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Hub. The Hub will support students from other universities to attend CDT modules. This interaction will intensify the exchange between UK researchers in the field. The interaction with other European training initiatives (Summer Schools, curriculum development) will allow the further development of high quality training materials and grant the Centre students access to placements and exchanges with foreign institutions and industry.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sweta Munshi (Student) |
| Description | Cost effective and energy dense storage method is one the key challenges in hydrogen economy. Among different methods, solid state lithium borohydride (LiBH4) gained much interest in this particular field due to its high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen density of 18.5 wt. % and 121 kg/m3. However, its disadvantages include high stability, slow kinetics and a high dehydrogenation temperature (400-600°C) which hinders its commercial usage. Thermodynamic tuning is an approach of adding reactive agents to LiBH4 system to decrease the enthalpy of dehydrogenation, hence lowering the decomposition temperature. To date many thermodynamic tuning processes have been explored. Here the addition of LiOH to LiBH4 was explored. Different molar ratios for LiBH4:xLiOH (x=1,3,4) systems were investigated. The ball milled LiBH4:xLiOH (x=1) system, starting at 230°C gave 4.7% weight loss. The LiOH stoichiometry greatly affected the tuning process. Increasing the LiOH content in the LiBH4:xLiOH (x=1,3,4) system increased the liberated hydrogen percentage while the onset dehydrogenation temperature also decreased. X-Ray Diffraction analysis on post-milled and post TGA samples have shown the main product to be Li3BO3 with intermediate steps. It was found the kinetics were accelerated further when using a pre milled LiOH for LiBH4:xLiOH (x=4) system released total 5.7 wt. % starting at 200°C and 220? for LiBH4:3LiOH system. A possible overall reaction schematic for LiBH4 and pre milled LiOH (1:4) system is: LiBH4 + 4LiOH --> Li3BO3 + Li2O + 4H2 |
| Exploitation Route | A detailed reaction chemistry with increasing temperature is being explored thoroughly for this system and also the addition of catalysts to the system. Some catalysts addition are showing very promising results, decreasing the onset temperature below 100 degree celcius.Further work is going on these systems and on their reaction schematic. |
| Sectors | Chemicals Energy Environment Transport |
| Description | A major growing concern with rapid modernization and increasing energy demand is the climate change due to CO2 emission has encouraged Governments from different countries to work together in order to find alternative and environmentally friendly ways to produce and store energy. In a survey conducted in 2019 reported that 64% of the World's total energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. Although UK's greenhouse emission is decreasing steadily from past 30 years with a current standing of 40.9% energy consumption from fossil fuel and 36.9% from alternatives (2019). UK now has set a target to bring down all the greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2050. The previous target was to reduce greenhouse emission by at least 80% by 2050 compared to 1990. The burning of fossil fuels produces heat-trapping gases (greenhouse gases) that are the main cause for the ongoing rise in global atmospheric temperatures. Industries and transport sectors are one of the major concerns. UK now has a 'net zero' target policy and in order to achieve the "net zero" target by 2050, the UK government is investigating if hydrogen can replace natural gas to decarbonize heavy industries and transport sectors. Hydrogen can be stored as compressed gas under high pressure, as liquid in cryogenic tanks or as solid state: physisorption on metal surface, on activated carbon or by forming hydrides but they require very specific temeprature, pressure which make the system very costly, some of them have safety issues as well. Solid state hydrogen storage can produce hydrogen at attainable temperature and pressure, are more cheaper and safer to use. For fuel cell application, the ideal hydrogen release temperature should be around 80-100°C with around 6.5 wt% storage capacity. High hydrogen storage capacity [18.5 wt. % and 121 kg/m3 of H2] of lithium borohydride (LiBH4) drawn our interest to it but the major decomposition of LiBH4 is at 400-600°C which is very high. Our work is going on reducing the decomposition temperature. By reacting LiBH4 with LiOH, the decompotion was reduced to 230°C. Adding catalysts to the system further decresed the decomposition temperture to less than 100°C. Futher work is going on the system stydy and reaction chemistry. |
| Sector | Chemicals,Energy,Environment,Transport |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic |