Hybrid Nanoporous Adsorption / High-pressure Gas Hydrogen Storage Tanks

This is a Case for Support for an inter-disciplinary research project at the University of Bath, UK to establish for the first time design and operation principles for hybrid nanoporous adsorption / high-pressure hydrogen gas storage tanks for use in sustainable energy applications, especially low-carbon vehicles. It is being submitted in response to the May 2013 EPSRC call for SUPERGEN Hydrogen Challenge projects, in particular to provide storage solutions using hybrid systems. If funded, the project will benefit from strong association with the EPSRC SUPERGEN Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Hub of which Mays (the Principal Investigator of this project) is a Co-Director.

The proposed project, nominally to start in April 2014 (£1,170 unindexed full economic cost), and involving seven researchers (127 work months in total), aims to determine how nanoporous adsorbents may be incorporated into Type IV (or equivalent) high-pressure gas tanks (operating at ~70 MPa and ~298 K) to enhance hydrogen capacity, optimise storage conditions and possibly confer additional benefits in terms of thermal and mechanical properties. The project incorporates three, linked workpackages. WP1 (led by Burrows, Co-Investigator, Chemistry) will generate novel nanoporous adsorbents to be used as tank liners, WP2 (led by Bowen. Materials Science and Kim, Mechanical Engineering, CIs) will study how these materials bond to, and affect the properties of, tank materials (in particular carbon-fibre reinforced resin composites) and WP3 (led by Mays, Chemical Engineering) will integrate WP1 and WP2 to develop an optimal design and operation strategy for hybrid tanks. The project partner, EPL Composites Ltd., Loughborough, UK, will provide expert advice on industrial and economic aspects of tank materials, manufacture and design (contribution worth £45k) and the University will provide strategic project support in the form a 36-month PhD studentship based in Chemical Engineering worth a total of £57k.

A high-level motivation for this work is to resolve the problem of practical and economic hydrogen storage to support technology development for future sustainable and secure energy provision in the UK, especially low-carbon vehicles. A principal aim is to support efforts to meet the country's legally-binding carbon budgets as set out in the 2008 Climate Change Act. These UK budgets are framed internationally, in particular in the EU's 20-20-20 targets and within the Kyoto Protocol. As well as environmental drivers, the project could also lead to social and financial benefits for the UK. The energy industries in the UK economy represent 3.5 % of GDP (~UK£60b), 10 % of total investment, 52 % of industrial investment and employ about 173,000 people and the vast majority of the UK's 63m population benefits from the availability of heat, power and means of transport that these industries provide. Hence, even for low growth, there are significant economic and employment opportunities for hydrogen technologies as future energy systems move away from fossil fuels.

The proposed research also aligns strongly with roadmaps and policy documents on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells both internationally, for example the EU Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, and in the UK. UK initiatives include the 2004 IOM3 Materials Foresight Document, the 2005 Fuel Cells UK Fuel Cell Development and Deployment Roadmap, the 2006 Scottish Executive Hydrogen Energy Group Report and the UK TSB/DECC 2009 Hydrogen Roadmap. The UK hydrogen community convened at the UKERC Meeting Place in Oxford in February 2011 to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the UK hydrogen programme and to make recommendations for the way forward, including research into storage. This acted as a pre-cursor to the new EPSRC SUPERGEN Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Hub (H2FC), which includes hydrogen storage as a key enabling theme.

The establishment of H2FC reinforced the importance attached to hydrogen and fuel cells research in the UK which is linked to key outcomes of a number of influential EPSRC International Reviews (Materials, 2008; Chemistry, 2009; Energy, 2010) all of which identified energy storage as a major challenge. The project clearly aligns with this and related current UK government science policy which recently highlighted the fundamental national importance of energy storage (which necessarily includes hydrogen) as one of its priority Eight Great Technologies. Finally, the proposed project clearly aims to meet requirements of the Hydrogen Challenge Call in particular research on hybrid solid-state / pressurised gas containment. The Call and this proposal reflect priorities in the EPSRC's Physical Sciences and Energy themes, in particular securing energy supply by funding world-class, speculative research to define future energy supply options, including hydrogen.

To ensure project impact all research outcomes will be disseminated internationally in the very highest quality journals, and at national and international conferences, meetings and workshops, including those organised by the EPSRC SUPERGEN H2FC Hub to which this Challenge project is linked. All project investigators are experienced and committed disseminators of their research with well over 400 publications between them. Their complementary skill sets will lead to outputs that will have interest and impact across a wide range of technical disciplines. Peer-reviewed journal and conference papers will constitute the academic evidence base required to inform and shape future hybrid adsorbent / high-pressure hydrogen gas containment strategies nationally, and contribute to the global academic and industrial communities in this field and in the broader energy sector. The project has significant added value via its links with the SUPERGEN Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Hub (H2FC) and hence with the extensive national and international networks of the Hub's investigators, researchers and project partners.