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Hydrogen storage systems based on magnesium hydride: from laboratory tests to fuel cell integration

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Abstract

The paper reviews the state of the art of hydrogen storage systems based on magnesium hydride, emphasizing the role of thermal management, whose effectiveness depends on the effective thermal conductivity of the hydride, but also depends of other limiting factors such as wall contact resistance and convective exchanges with the heat transfer fluid. For daily cycles, the use of phase change material to store the heat of reaction appears to be the most effective solution. The integration with fuel cells (1 kWe proton exchange membrane fuel cell and solid oxide fuel cell) highlights the dynamic behaviour of these systems, which is related to the thermodynamic properties of MgH2. This allows for “self-adaptive” systems that do not require control of the hydrogen flow rate at the inlet of the fuel cell.

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Abbreviations

x :

Hydrogenation fraction (0 < x < 1)

\(\frac{{{\text{d}}x}}{{{\text{d}}t}}\) :

Hydrogenation velocity (s−1)

C p :

Specific heat (J/kg/K)

ε :

Porosity

E a :

Activation energy (J/mol)

ΔH :

Absorption enthalpy (J/mol)

K :

Permeability (m2)

λ :

Effective thermal conductivity (W/m K)

L th :

Characteristic length for heat diffusion (m)

L gaz :

Characteristic length for gas diffusion (m)

µ :

Dynamic viscosity of hydrogen (Pa s)

M :

Molecular weight of hydrogen (kg/mol)

P :

Hydrogen pressure (Pa)

P in :

Gas inlet pressure (Pa)

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

R :

Universal gas constant = 8.314 J/mol K

S :

Source term (W/m3)

T :

Temperature (K)

T m :

Melting temperature of the PCM (K)

V :

Gas velocity (m/s)

wt:

Maximum hydrogen fraction inside the hydride (%)

m :

Metal hydride (except for T m)

g :

Gas

eq:

Equilibrium

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge partial funding by the Carnot Institute “Energies du Futur” and the European Commission DG Research (SES6-2006-518271/NESSHY).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, NEEL Institute, 38042, Grenoble, France

    P. de Rango & D. Fruchart

  2. Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000, Grenoble, France

    P. de Rango, P. Marty & D. Fruchart

  3. Laboratoire des Ecoulements Géophysiques et Industriels (LEGI), BP53, 38041, Grenoble, France

    P. Marty

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  1. P. de Rango
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Correspondence to P. de Rango.

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de Rango, P., Marty, P. & Fruchart, D. Hydrogen storage systems based on magnesium hydride: from laboratory tests to fuel cell integration. Appl. Phys. A 122, 126 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-9646-1

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