Development of a high-pressure 700 bar metal hydride hydrogen compressor

Abstract

HySA Systems and TF Design have recently developed a single-stage prototype high-pressure metal hydride hydrogen compressor (MHHC) which is able to compress hydrogen from 100 to >700 bar at the working temperatures from 20 to 150 °C, with estimated productivity about 1 Nm3/h. The MHHC comprises of two 2 m-long fibre-wound high-pressure MH containers developed by the authors earlier and assembled in two modules operating in a mode of a cyclic lower-pressure H2 absorption (on cooling) and high-pressure H2 desorption (on heating). The containers operate using a self-developed multicomponent C14 Laves type Ti–based AB2 intermetallic alloy. The article considers phase-structural and hydrogen sorption properties of the utilized metal hydride material, hydrogen compression performances of the metal hydride container, as well as layout and the expected performance characteristics of the compressor assembly.