HyFill-Fast - Fast, efficient and high capacity hydrogen refuelling and onboard storage

Hydrogen and fuel cells are internationally recognized as a long term solution enabling the use of renewable energy for mobile applications providing zero particle emission and a carbon neutral transportation system. Unfortunately, safe, energy- and cost-efficient compression, refuelling and onboard storage of hydrogen allowing it to be the successor for gasoline are still lacking. Hydrogen compression is today energy costly, with insufficient capacity and expensive system components. Secondly, no hydrogen storage method has yet been identified, which fulfils all the requirements for mobile applications neither in the gas- (high pressure), liquid-(cryogenic) or solid-state. The goal for this project is to conduct research within a new concept, which integrates compression of hydrogen using an ionic liquid as piston with combined solid state and high pressure onboard hydrogen storage. Ionic liquid gas compression has the potential to increase the capacity and energy efficiency by applying internal cooling during the
compression process. Combined high pressure (700 bar) and solid state hydrogen storage clearly has the potential to increase the storage capacity considerably. The great challenge is to engineer the storage tank and the pressure and temperature controlled chemical reactions in such a way that both hydrogen and heat is absorbed, thereby increasing both the energy efficiency and storage capacity. This strategic initiative will conduct outstanding research directed towards specific industrial applications and educate 7 PhD students and 2 postdoc’s at the highest level of mechanical engineering and energy materials science in an international and interdisciplinary research consortium backed up by the letters of interest from the major companies Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Daimler, General Motors and Shell.