NRC-CNBC Staff Develop New Facility for Hydrogen Storage Research

One of the significant challenges for the scientific community who are developing hydrogen technology to power vehicles or heat buildings, is the issue of hydrogen storage. Hydrogen is the smallest atom. Hydrogen gas readily diffuses into materials and leaks from containment systems. Even under high pressure, hydrogen is bulky to store as a gas.

There are a number of ways that hydrogen might be stored in a solid material. Some of these materials contain hydrogen more densely packed than can be achieved in a pressurized gas and may also prove less of a fire hazard than gaseous hydrogen or gasoline.

NRC technician Shahrukh Alavi tests the new hydrogen storage system as Mike Watson looks on.

Neutron scattering is an excellent technique for research concerning hydrogen in materials. Unlike X-rays, neutrons are very sensitive to hydrogen and its isotopes, scattering differently from hydrogen and deuterium. The NRC Canadian Neutron Beam Centre is planning to make a significant contribution to the Canadian research community working in the field of hydrogen storage materials, with the recent completion of a new piece of apparatus at the lab.

NRC technicians Mike Watson and Shahrukh Alavi designed the CNBC hydrogen storage system. The system will provide precise control of process variables to specimens of hydrogen storage material, while they are simultaneously analyzed with neutrons. The temperature, gas pressure, gas mixture ratios, and flow rates to the sample can all be controlled and logged in real time by the system's control program. The logged data will confirm the efficiency of the specimen's hydrogen storage capabilities while neutron diffraction measurements simultaneously reveal where hydrogen atoms are located and what crystalline phases may arise within molecular or nano-structures of a host matrix.

The gas delivery system contains instrumentation sub-systems that continuously monitor the status of important process variables and respond to an abnormal situation to contain any possible release of hydrogen. A technically challenging aspect of the design and construction of the system was addressing the safety issues involved in using an instrument containing pressurized flammable gases on the working floor of a licensed nuclear facility. But with that process complete the equipment is ready for its first experiments.

In order to provide the flexibility for future experiments requiring a controlled gas atmosphere the system can be reconfigured easily to handle other gases.

System specifications

As well as supporting an in-house NRC-CNBC research program on hydrogen storage, this new experimental apparatus should provide a useful, unique national capability for other research groups within NRC and elsewhere across Canada. Access to the hydrogen storage equipment along with all the facilities at the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre is granted free of charge for academic projects that pass the peer-review process. Apply for beam time.