Electrochemical Compression and Purification to Enable Hydrogen Fuel Distribution, Storage, and Use Topic Area: Fuels

摘要

Hydrogen holds the promise of being a key enabling energy storage medium in major markets as diverse as grid energy storage, backup power and transportation. A critical component in these markets is the ability to economically compress hydrogen to high pressure. Today, compression is typically done through mechanical means but this approach has numerous drawbacks and alternative solutions are needed. Removing mechanical compression eliminates the component with the highest ambient noise pollution and the most frequent maintenance requirements, two important factors in energy applications. The high generation pressure also allows small storage footprint, which is important in military applications such as vehicle auxiliary power or unmanned vehicles, where space is at a premium. It is also an attractive option for backup power when integrated with a fuel cell and has advantages over batteries in factors such as backup power duration, maintenance costs, and safety.