The UK government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has awarded funding for a safe hydrogen storage and transport technology demonstrator. The technology was developed by an Australian company, Carbon280. The technology was proposed to the UK authorities by a consortium led (as prime contractor and project administrator) by Netherlands-based long duration energy storage company Corre Energy, and including Carbon 280. For Phase 1 of the programme, which will be a feasibility study for the construction of a prototype system, the consortium was granted £149 922.

Should Phase 1 be successful, Phase 2 would see the prototype facility built, most probably at the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub, Menter Môn, in Wales. Menter Môn is another member of the consortium. The other members of the consortium are Australia-based industrial engineering solutions company Worley (responsible for the project engineering, procurement and construction management), UK hydrogen refuelling station deployment enterprise Element 2, and Ireland-based consultancy Energy Reform.

Hydrogen contains a lot of energy – one kilogramme contains three times the energy found in one kilogramme of diesel fuel – but it requires, at room temperature and pressure, a lot of volume for storage. One kilogramme of hydrogen can require up to 11 m³ of space (at sea level), whereas the same weight of diesel requires a little more than 0.001 m³. Consequently, for transport hydrogen is normally liquified (requiring very low temperatures) or put under very high pressures.

But the transport of highly pressurised or liquified hydrogen raises important safety issues. Under the UK’s Control of Major Accidents Hazards regulations, the large-scale storing of hydrogen gas in non-industrial areas is forbidden.

Yet hydrogen is a zero-carbon fuel well-suited to power larger road vehicles like heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and buses. However, truck stops, where HGVs and buses refuel, are non-industrial areas, meaning that only small amounts of hydrogen may be stored at them. A truck stop with a hydrogen supply can, on average, service between eight and ten HGVs daily. There are some 500 000 HGVs running on British roads. The currently available hydrogen storage and transport methods are simply not scalable.

Carbon280 has developed a method of storing and transporting hydrogen in a safe and convenient manner. The company has named (and trademarked) it as Hydrilyte. This is a liquid containing a metal dust, in suspension, which forms a chemical bond with the hydrogen. This bond is very stable and retains 100% of the hydrogen, for decades if need be. Hydrilyte is, the company assures, made from materials that are plentiful and cheap. No pressurisation or cooling is required.

“With [this] funding, the UK government is uniquely positioning itself to leapfrog its international competition in hydrogen storage technologies,” affirmed Carbon280 founder and CEO Mark Rheinlander. “As far as we know, the UK is unique in offering 100% funding to pilot early-stage technologies like [our] Hydrilyte and yet, it is at this point, when matched funding is hard to come by, that government funding can make the biggest difference to successful technology commercialisation.”