Edited by Mary Rose de Valladares M.R.S. Enterprises, LLC ...

Solid & Liquid State Hydrogen Storage Materials
Dr. Gary Sandrock
Private Consultant
Davis, CA, USA
Operating Agent for the
U.S. Department of Energy
ORIGINS & OVERVIEW
Task 17 is oriented toward hydrogen
storage, a key problem in the imple­
mentation of H 2 fuel and the creation of
the hydrogen economy. In particular,
it focuses on predominantly solid­state
hydrogen storage materials such as
metal hydride absorbents and high
surface area absorbents. It was derived
from earlier Task 12 (Metal Hydrides and
Carbon for Hydrogen Storage), which
was completed in 2000 and summarized
in the Final Report available at the IEA
Hydrogen Implementing Agreement
website (http://www.ieahia.org). Task 17
was begun in June 2001 and is sched­
uled to expire at the end of May 2006.
The thirteen national participants are
Australia, Canada, the European Com­
mission, Finland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania,
Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
the United Kingdom and the United
States. This report summarizes the
constitution of the Task as of the end
of 2005, its targets, and its technical
projects. A more complete and techni­
cally detailed Annual Report can be
found at the Task’s website (http://hyd­
park.ca.sandia.gov/ieaframe.html). As
Task 17 moves toward its end, plans are
being made to forge a new IEA HIA An­
nex that will involve more countries and
operate in close communication with
H­storage activities contained within the
International Partnership for the Hydro­
gen Economy (IPHE).
& PROJECT TYPES
The Task is oriented toward the
development of new reversible hydrogen
storage media with increased gravi­
metric and volumetric capacity, along
with the development of fundamental
understandings of those materials so as
ress. The main application of interest is
onboard vehicular H­storage (Target 1,
below), although stationary storage is
also in the Task’s R&D thinking (Target
2, below). The vehicular storage work
assumes a PEM fuel cell or internal
combustion engine as the source of
propulsion, thus setting the maximum
temperature available from waste heat.
for the required enthalpy for H 2 liberation
from the storage media. The stationary
storage work is oriented toward low cost
H 2 destined for fuel cell use. Thus, the
three targets resulting from the above
philosophies can be stated as follows:
1. Develop a reversible hydrogen
storage medium with > 5 wt.% H 2 re­
coverable at < 80˚C and 1 bar absolute
pressure, with charging and discharging
rates suitable for practical use in a fuel
cell or internal combustion engine H 2 ­fu­
eled vehicle.
2. Develop a low­cost, revers­
ible hydrogen storage medium that can
be rapidly charged and discharged at
near­ambient temperatures, is tolerant
to impurities in the H 2 used, and dis­
charges hydrogen of ultra high purity for
use directly in a PEM fuel cell.
3. Develop the fundamental and
engineering understanding of hydrogen
storage by advanced storage media that
have the capability of meeting Targets 1
5
“Task 17 is
oriented toward the
development of new
reversible hydrogen
storage media with
increased gravimetric
and volumetric
capacity, along with
the development
of fundamental
understandings of
those materials.”
“The main
application of
interest is onboard
vehicular H­storage.”