Hydrogen Storage Via Sodium Borohydride

Abstract

Global energy consumption is expected to rise hugely in the next decades, driven by rising standards of living and a growing population worldwide. Among the various alternative energy strategies, building an energy infrastructure that uses hydrogen as the primary carrier connecting a host of energy sources to diverse end-users may enable a secure and clean energy future.

Fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle (FCHEV) is strongly attractive as a zero emission vehicle. However, FCHEV has not been used widely by current state. One of the reasons is the construction cost of infrastructure such as hydrogen gas station is too expensive. As a solution, several high-pressure hydrogen gas tank less FCHEVs have been proposed. One of them is FCHEV fuelled by sodium borohydride (NaBH4). This hydride has high energy density however the energy density of conventional system is low. Thus, a novel hydrogen gas supply system, which can improve the volumetric-and-gravimetric-density than a conventional one is also discussed in thesis.

Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) has been considered most attractive hydrogen storage material for portable fuel cell applications, as it provide safe and practical means of producing hydrogen. The concentration of NaBH4 should be as high as possible in order to improve energy density.

The report also emphasizes on Catalysis, Cobalt Chloride (CoCl2), used to enhance the hydrolysis reaction. Therefore, taking into account that cost factor of catalyst and easy availability, CoCl2 is considered as a most efficient catalyst and accordingly rate kinetics is discussed in the thesis.