Wednesday, April 30, 2014

1.3 HYDROGEN STORAGE ON VEHICLES

A sufficient amount of hydrogen to provide satisfactory driving range must be stored onboard a hydrogen-powered vehicle. This is a significant challenge because, at normal temperature and pressure, a given volume of hydrogen is very light and contains very little energy. Hydrogen vehicle fuel storage systems on commercial vehicles are larger, heavier, and more expensive than diesel vehicle fuel storage systems. Given the limitations of onboard hydrogen storage, hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles may not provide comparable operating range to typical diesel-powered commercial vehicles.

There are five ways that the hydrogen can be stored on the vehicle:

• As a high-pressure gas,
• As a very low temperature liquid,
• Chemically bound or physically absorbed onto a material such as a solid “hydride,” As a component of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel (which is reformed), or
• As a component of water (H20) (which is hydrolyzed).

Currently the most common method of onboard hydrogen storage for vehicles powered by fuel cells  and hydrogen ICEs is as a compressed gas. This is likely to continue to be true for the foreseeable future.

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