Polymers4Hydrogen – Designed Polymers and their Composites for High Pressure Environments
Polymers4Hydrogen addresses the challenges of hydrogen storage, by designing new polymer materials with improved barrier properties and developing new manufacturing concepts and designs for liner-less high-pressure storage tanks.
Project Partners
Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH, HyCentA Research GmbH, Montanuniversität Leoben, Politecnico di Milano, Tampere University of Technology, Arlanxeo Deutschland GmbH, Contitech Rubber Industrial Kft., Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH, Peak Technology GmbH, SKF Sealing Solutions Austria GmbH
Duration
01.01.2020 – 01.01.2024
Funding authority
COMET – Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies
Motivation
In the transition of our energy system towards renewables, hydrogen has a promising potential as a new energy carrier, due to its three times higher energy density compared to petroleum. The COMET module Polymers4Hydrogen addresses the challenges of hydrogen storage, by designing polymer materials and sealing solutions for use under high pressure. Extreme operating conditions (-40 °C, >700 bar) pose numerous challenges for polymer materials technology, ranging from the permeation of hydrogen through composite materials to explosive decompression failure of polymers. In many areas, fundamental scientific knowledge is still lacking to realize future-oriented applications in the field of hydrogen technology. To lay the essential scientific foundations, Polymers4Hydrogen was set up using an interdisciplinary approach along the value chain, ranging from polymer chemistry to polymer processing to characterization and simulation of complex material behaviour.
Method
Within Polymers4Hydrogen, new materials with increased barrier properties against small gas molecules (e.g. hydrogen) are developed. Furthermore, measurement of permeation properties are conducted using a permeation cell and the properties of polymers under extreme conditions are determined. In addition, new winding concepts for liner-less high-pressure storage systems are developed and simulation strategies in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics are implemented. At the LCC optimized pressure vessel designs and manufacturing processes are developed to achieve more efficient fiber reinforcement and to reduce material and process costs. Due to the requirements of the automotive industry, the design leads away from the state of the art cylindrical pressure vessel towards a rectangular shape. This poses a great challenge in pressure vessel design, as the targets for the nominal working pressure is 700 bar and 2000 Bar for burst pressure.
Acknowledgement
The chair thankfully acknowledges the funding provided by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) and the Federal Ministry for Digitalization and Business Location (BMDW) under the scheme “COMET-Module” for the project " Designed Polymers and their Composites for High Pressure Environments - Polymers 4 Hydrogen". We would also like to express our thanks to Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH, which is the main location and COMET-center for the project.
