Thermodynamic Analysis on Hydrogen Storage System
Alok Kumara, Sayantan Janab, and P Muthukumara,b, aSchool of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India; bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction 253
Hydrogen economy and future prospective 255
Challenges in hydrogen storage 255
Thermodynamic analysis of metal hydride hydrogen storage system (MHHSS) 256
Thermodynamics of metal-hydrogen system: van’t Hoff plot 256
Selection metal hydrides 257
Components of a storage system 257
Design of storage system 258
Energy analysis of an MH based hydrogen storage system 258
Scope of metal hydride based hydrogen storage system (MHHSS) 260
Metal hydride based hydrogen purification system (MHHPS) 260
Metal hydride based hydrogen compressor (MHHC) 261
Metal hydride based cooling and heating system (MHCHS) 261
Metal hydride reactor coupled with hydrogen fuel cell 261
Metal hydride based thermal energy storage system (MHTESS) 262
Summary 262
Acknowledgment 263
References 263
Abstract
Considering the continuous rise in the global energy demand and limited availability of fossil fuel reserves, the world research
community is peeping into the alternative options available for fulfilling the energy demands in the future. The significant
utilization of fossil fuels led to a consistent rise in the CO2 concentration in the environment causing global warming. Hence,
the main focus of fulfilling future energy demand is through the utilization of renewable energy sources. Due to inconsistency in
the availability of renewable energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, etc., the complete dependency on such
energy sources is always questionable. However, using efficient renewable energy conversion and storage technologies can come
handy in tackling such problems. One of such technologies can be hydrogen-based renewable energy utilization system,
wherein, hydrogen can be generated through electrolysis of water, during the availability of sun/wind, and can be further stored
in compressed or solid form. Further, depending on the demand, it can be used to generate electricity through fuel cell
technology. The present chapter focuses on the thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen storage systems, wherein the main focus is
given on solid state hydrogen storage technology, because of its safe hydrogen storage nature and several other additional
advantage like hydrogen purification, hydrogen compression, heating and cooling effect, etc.
Introduction
Considering the present world energy scenario and the continuous growth in the energy demand, there is a significant increase in the
energy generation worldwide (Fig. 1). In the past one-decade worldwide net energy consumption has been doubled. It can be
observed from the evolution of energy demand and mode of energy generation/supply since the 18th century that the major energy
consumption for chemical industries, thermal power plants, automobile sector, etc., were generated from traditional energy sources
such as, biomass, coal, fossil fuel, etc., which led to the rise of the CO2 concentration in the environment (Jacobson, 2009), that
caused the global warming (Kvaløy et al., 2012). The global primary energy consumption from various energy sources is depicted in
Fig. 2, wherein it can be observed that, before the 20th century, the primary energy sources were biomass, coal and fossil fuels.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the world realized the alarming situation of the global temperature rise, and
started making attempts to use the green energy technology to fulfill the primary energy demand (Fig. 2). It was realized that the
renewable energy sources can be a suitable alternative, and the world witnessed a parallel shift toward renewable energy utilization
technology, as a future energy alternative (Smil, 2017). Plenty of renewable energy resources like solar energy, wind energy, tidal
energy, etc., are available unlimited. Still, due to their intermittent availability, it becomes difficult to rely on them as continuous
energy sources. However, by deploying different renewable energy conversion technology and coupling it with suitable energy
storage technology can bring an immense change in the efficient utilization of renewable sources, by storing it in different forms
during their availability and utilizing it whenever it is required (Gregory and Rogner, 1998).
One of the most efficient sources of green energy is hydrogen, as it can be used both as a fuel and as an energy carrier. But
naturally, it is not available in its free state. However, it can be easily produced through several thermal, chemical and electrochem-
ical processes. As depicted in Fig. 3, hydrogen can be produced through all natural sources of energy. It can be produced through
Encyclopedia of Energy Storage https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819723-3.00134-7 253
