Metal Hydrides for High-Temperature Power Generation

Ewa C. E. Rönnebro, Greg Whyatt, Michael Powell, Matthew Westman, Feng (Richard) Zheng and Zhigang Zak Fang
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Ewa C. E. Rönnebro: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Greg Whyatt: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Michael Powell: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Matthew Westman: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Feng (Richard) Zheng: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Zhigang Zak Fang: Department of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Utah, 135 S. 1460 E., Room 412, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 8, 1-25

Abstract: Metal hydrides can be utilized for hydrogen storage and for thermal energy storage (TES) applications. By using TES with solar technologies, heat can be stored from sun energy to be used later, which enables continuous power generation. We are developing a TES technology based on a dual-bed metal hydride system, which has a high-temperature (HT) metal hydride operating reversibly at 600–800 °C to generate heat, as well as a low-temperature (LT) hydride near room temperature that is used for hydrogen storage during sun hours until there is the need to produce electricity, such as during night time, a cloudy day or during peak hours. We proceeded from selecting a high-energy density HT-hydride based on performance characterization on gram-sized samples scaled up to kilogram quantities with retained performance. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to make performance predictions for cylindrical hydride beds with varying diameters and thermal conductivities. Based on experimental and modeling results, a ~200-kWh/m 3 bench-scale prototype was designed and fabricated, and we demonstrated the ability to meet or exceed all performance targets.

Keywords: metal hydrides; thermal energy storage; hydrogen storage; hydrogen diffusion rate; thermal conductivity; scale-up; solar technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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