A quarterly research and development magazine
Technical contact
Dan Dedrick
(925) 294-1552
dededri@sandia.gov
Media contact
Mike Janes
(925) 294-2447
mejanes@sandia.gov
If hydrogen is to be the future fuel of choice for automobiles, researchers must first answer a number of questions associated with its handling and storage.
As part of a three-year, $2 million Department of Energy-funded project, Sandia is developing computational models to better predict the behavior of materials that would be used to store hydrogen in automotive fuel tank systems.
Advanced metal hydrides and other chemicals being considered for hydrogen storage absorb and hold hydrogen within their molecular structures and release it when subjected to heat. But hydrides can react when exposed to air and moisture, says principal investigator Dan Dedrick.
The researchers want to know under what conditions, exactly, metal hydrides will react with air and water. They are asking how the materials will perform under normal and accident conditions, as well as after the materials age. And they need to predict the materials’ behaviors during manufacturing.
As part of the effort, Sandia will conduct experiments to understand reaction processes. Data gathered in the experiments will be used to build computer models. Through experiments and modeling, the team expects to develop validated computational tools that can predict the behaviors of advanced metal hydrides in a variety of scenarios.
Sandia was one of six institutions that in August received DOE funding for applied hydrogen storage research. In related projects, Sandia is examining ways to lessen the consequences of a leak at a hydrogen filling station (see images on pages 10-11) and reduce the time it would take to fill a metal hydride-based hydrogen fuel tank, among other work.
Sandia leads the DOE Metal Hydrides Center of Excellence and, since 2003, has worked with General Motors in a four-year, $10 million project to develop and test tanks that store hydrogen in a metal hydride medium.