On the 24th of August 2022, the official cerimony of the German Renewables Award took place at Altonaer Kaispeicher in Hamburg (Germany).

The initiative of the Renewable Energy Cluster Agency (EEHH) aims to “honour individuals and companies who are advancing the energy transition with novel products and projects”. The awards are presented annually in several categories: Project of the Year, Product Innovation, Student Work, Hydrogen Innovation of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Best Media Work.

Patrick Kloss, Master’s graduate at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, won the award in the “Student Work of the Year” category for his master thesis entitled “Development of a digital model of a stationary hydrogen storage tank based on room temperature (TiFe) hydride”, which was pursued in the broad frame of HyCARE project.

More information here (DE) and at this link (EN).

HyCARE’s researchers Jussara Barale of the Univerity of Turin (Italy) published the results on the alloy TiFe0.85Mn0.05 and

Abstract:

Moving from basic research to the implementation of hydrogen storage system based on metal hydride, the industrial production of the active material is fundamental. The alloy TiFe0.85Mn0.05 was selected as H2-carrier for a storage plant of about 50 kg of H2. In this work, a batch of 5 kg of TiFe0.85Mn0.05 alloy was synthesized at industrial level and characterized to determine the structure and phase abundance. The H2 sorption properties were investigated, performing studies on long-term cycling study and resistance to poisoning. The alloy absorbs and desorbs hydrogen between 25 bar and 1 bar at 55 °C, storing 1.0H2 wt.%, displaying fast kinetic, good resistance to gas impurities, and storage stability over 250 cycles. The industrial production promotes the formation of a passive layer and a high amount of secondary phases, observing differences in the H2 sorption behaviour compared to samples prepared at laboratory scale. This work highlights how hydrogen sorption properties of metal hydrides are strictly related to the synthesis method.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.06.295

The article is available in Open access at this link.

The HyCARE Consortium gathered online for a short update of the activities before the summer. The HyCARE team is continuing the assembly of the 40 kg hydrogen storage tank based on metal hydrides (MH) and phase changing materials (PCM). The HyCARE tank is currently at the workshop of Stühff, in Germany. In spite of the challenges caused by international shortages of micro-electronic components, the HyCARE tank is close to finalization. In early autumn, it will be transferred to ENGIE Lab CRIGEN in Paris, where it will be installed, tested and validated. 

Keep following the project for the future development and finalisation of the HyCARE’s tank in the next months!

At the World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC 22) in Istanbul, Jussara Barale (University of Turin) presents the work performed on the prototype of the final HyCARE demonstrator, highlighting the best operative conditions to properly manage the heat of reaction at the MH tank by the PCM module.

The World Hydrogen Energy Conference bring together international communities to share experience on global activities in the field of hydrogen energy systems for a sustainable future. The dissemination of knowledge on hydrogen energy will foster interest in the new scientific and technological activities.

For more information, visit WHEC22 website.

HyCARE’s researchers Giovanni Capurso and José M.Bellosta von Colbe of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Germany) published their results on thermal activation methods for industrially produced titanium-iron-manganese powders (TiFeMn) for hydrogen storage.

The work proposes an effective thermal activation method with low technical effort for industrially produced titanium-iron-manganese powders (TiFeMn) for hydrogen storage. In this context, the influence of temperature and particle size of TiFeMn on the activation process is systematically studied. The results obtained from this investigation suggest that the activation of the TiFeMn material at temperatures as low as 50 °C is already possible, with a combination of “Dynamic” and “Static” routines, and that an increase to 90 °C strongly reduces the incubation time for activation, i.e. the incubation time of the sample with the two routines at 90 °C is about 0.84 h, while ∼ 277 h is required for the sample treated at 50 °C in both “Dynamic” and “Static” sequences. Selecting TiFeMn particles of larger size also leads to significant improvements in the activation performance of the investigated material. The proposed activation routine makes it possible to overcome the oxide layer existing on the compound surface, which acts as a diffusion barrier for the hydrogen atoms. This activation method induces further cracks and defects in the powder granules, generating new surfaces for hydrogen absorption with greater frequency, and thus leading to faster sorption kinetics in the subsequent absorption-desorption cycles.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.165847

The article is available in Open access at this link (until 31 August 2022) and at this link (from 1 September 2022).

Michel Latroche, internationally recognized as a pillar of the hydride community, and more generally of research on the fundamental properties of materials for energy applications, passed away suddenly on December 30, 2021. Michel Latroche was the WP2 leader of the HyCARE project. His work was very important to guide the characterization of powder and pellets produced for the HyCARE system. The international day, which aims to outline the broad panorama of his research interests, is dedicated to his memory. It took place on Monday, June 13 at the ICMPE auditorium in Thiais.

Michel Latroche’s research activities have been mainly devoted to the study of alloys, intermetallic compounds, rare earths and porous materials having the property of reacting with hydrogen to form various compounds with remarkable structural, thermodynamic, physical and electrochemical properties. These hydrogenated materials are attracting ever-increasing interest, both fundamentally and applied. Indeed, they are able to store hydrogen and its isotopes under tuneable pressure and temperature conditions. They are currently used as electrode materials in commercial Ni-MH batteries and are being considered as electrode and electrolyte materials for future generations of Li-ion batteries

During the workshop, HyCARE’s coordinator Marcello Baricco presented the project, highlighting the key contribution of Latroche in the project.

For more information, visit the workshop page.

HyCARE project coordinator Marcello Baricco participated to the 2nd FRH2 meeting organized by CNRS in Aussois (France). The meeting gathered more than 150 participants with more than a hundred oral presentations by young doctoral students, internationally recognized researchers and industrialists. This unique national event made it possible to take stock of current and future research on hydrogen storage devices, on all types of fuel cells, electrolysers, as well as on associated systems.

Baricco presented the “hydrogen cycle” and stressed the key role of storage to support the uptake of renewable energy sources. The HyCARE storage system was presented as an innovative technology for green hydrogen storage, allowing seasonal storage to support the wider use of renewables.

Download here the programme of the meeting (in French).

Congratulations to the first HyCARE’s PhD awarded by the chemistry Department of the University of Turin to Dr. Jussara Barale. Under the supervision of Prf. Marcello Baricco, Dr. Barale performed research on hydrogen storage and compression systems based on metal hydride. The work of Dr. Barale was fundamental to understand the properties of metal hydrides in combination to phase changing materials for hydrogen storage.

HyCARE’s researcher Erika Michela Dematteis presented at HydEM 2022 International Symposium her last work on “Mn-substituted TiFe alloys for large scale hydrogen storage application: an in-situ neutron diffraction study”. The presented results anticipates a publication that will be released soon on the neutron diffraction studies performed at neutron large scale facilities ILL and ISIS, to define the structural evolution of phases during the hydrogenation of the selected material for the HYCARE hydrogen storage system.

Hydrides as Energy Materials – HydEM 2022 is a point of reference for scientists of energy materials science, and the focus is on new hydrogen-containing materials for fuel cells, batteries, hydrogen storage, and conversion of CO2 into fuel.

For more information on HydEM2022 Symposium, click this link.

Dr. Paola Rizzi (University of Turin) presented HyCARE during the AICARR Congress hold at the Politecnico di Bari focused on hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

Paola presented a comprehensive description of the strategies that can be used to store hydrogen, from the most widespread to the advanced solutions, now proposed as prototypes. The presentation included the description of the HyCare system with the strategies adopted for the design of the integrated system. 

Download the programme here.