Project Number:
03-13
Research Project:
Hydrogen Storage System for Transportation Applications
P.I. Name & Address:
Reza Toossi
University of Southern California, Long Beach
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
1250 Bellflower Boulevard
Long Beach, CA90840
Tel:(562) 985-5641
Fax:(562) 985-4408
Email: rtoossi@csulb.edu
Project Objective:
Hydrogen can be stored as compressed gas, liquid, and reversible chemical and metal hydrides. Liquid hydrogen is usable but not practical for commercial applications; compressed hydrogen does not have sufficient volume density; and metal and chemical hydrides have potential but are bulky and heavy at this time. There has been much discussion recently about the use of carbon nanostructures as an efficient hydrogen storage mechanism. The nanostructures take various forms, but have the feature that the stronger binding of hydrogen occurs in nanostructures that contain stacks of graphite.Depending on how the samples were prepared and experimental procedure use, hydrogen uptake as much as 60% by weight were reported. The data are however very different from one investigator to another, and many cases are nonreproducible.
The purpose of the proposed research is to attempt to improve the state of understanding of the adsorption/desorption mechanism for hydrogen in carbon nanostructures, and thereby to improve the estimate of the hydrogen storage capacity of carbon nanostructures. The proposed program can be divided into three sections: the first addressing the hydrogen binding energies, the second applying the hydrogen binding energies to adsorption/desorption dynamics, and the third using the results to begin an engineering design of a practical storage device.
Task Descriptions:
1. Literature Review (2.5 months)
2. Estimate Adsorption Rate (5 months)
3. Modeling (3 months)
4. Comparison with Published Data (3.5 months)
5. Preliminary Engineering Design (2 months)
6. Final Report (2 months)
Milestones, Dates:
June 1, 2003 - May 31, 2004; final draft report 5/31/04
Total Budget:
$83,222
Student Involvement:
Two Students @ 50%, 12 mos.
Relationship to Other Research Projects:
Related to 99-19, 00-07; part of mobility of urban population focus area
Technology Transfer Activities:
Project report to be posted on the website
Potential Benefits of the Project:
Future commercial applications for liquid hydrogen
TRB Keywords:
Hydrogen storage
Primary Subject:
Vehicle fuels and energy sources, including production and delivery systems
Goals:
Mobility
Enabling Research:
Energy and environment
Modal Orientation:
Highway, transit
