II International Symposium on Carbon for Catalysis ABSTRACTS

IS IT POSSIBLE TO SOLVE THE HYDROGEN STORAGE PROBLEM
WITH ACTIVATED CARBONS
KL-1
Fenelonov V.B., Ustinov E.A., Yakovlev V. 1 , Barnakov Ch.N.
Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia
1 Scientific and Production Company “Provita”, St Petersburg, Russia
e-mail: fenelon@catalysis.ru
One of the key problems in the development of hydrogen-fueled vehicles is connected with
the hydrogen storage. The complexity of the hydrogen storage is due to its “simple”
molecular structure. The hydrogen molecule has only two electrons, which is the reason of an
extremely weak intermolecular interaction. As a consequence, it has low melting point (14.01
K), low boiling point (20.3 K), low critical temperature (33.2 K), and low densities of all
phases etc. Those complications have led to a search for solutions of the storage of hydrogen
as a non-traditional fuel. At the present time there are several ways of solution of the problem,
which are based on the following approaches: А) deriving hydrogen directly at the vehicle by
a catalytic reforming of hydrocarbons; B) hydrogen storage in regenerated chemical
adsorbents on the basis of metal hydrides of boron, lithium, aluminates, etc.; C) physical
adsorption in fine-porous adsorbents; D) the use of compressed GH 2 at 35-70 MPa, and E)
cryogenic LH 2 .
Each of the above methods has its principal drawback. The method A) does not solve the
problem of the carbon dioxide emission. Application of the method B) with solid regenerated
chemical adsorbents is complicated by their phase and volume changes during adsorption and
desorption of hydrogen. The method D) is dangerous because of a possibility of instantaneous
release of mechanical energy of the compressed gas during an emergency. The method E),
much as it is seemed a bit exotic (the storage of H 2 at ~20 K, slush hydrogen at ~14 K, or
compressed hydrogen at 30-50 K) has been tested in rocket and space technology long ago.
Modern Dewar containers with multi-layer vacuum thermal insulation virtually allow keeping
LH 2 for several weeks without any losses. The principal drawback of this method is
associated not with the problem of storage in itself, but with power inputs required to
refrigerate Н 2 up to the temperature of liquefaction.
Minimal power inputs L required for obtaining the unit of cooling Q in the process of
cooling of hydrogen from the initial temperature Т 0 down to the final temperature T is
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