E & G Associates, Inc. — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 17c

Description

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) are an emerging technology for improving energy efficiency and reducing pollution emissions related to transportation-However, improving on-board Hydrogen storage is a key challenge to the advancement of light duty FCEV- Current storage methods utilize composite on- board vessels for high pressure Hydrogen gas- This method is costly and requires large storage volumes which is problematic for light duty vehicles- Alternative methods of storage using materials that either chemically bind and release hydrogen, or reversibly adsorb hydrogen, have long been investigated as a means to lower the onboard storage pressure, reduce overall system and delivery costs, and lessen safety concerns- However, these materials struggle to meet the system targets for volumetric density due to packing inefficiencies of the storage materials- This shortfall of hydrogen sorption storage systems can be overcome by densification of absorbent material while maintaining available surface area-