I-Corps: Efficient Methane-Hydrogen Separation on Metal Hydrides

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是可能开发一种更安全和改进的方法来储存氢能量并从氢-甲烷气体混合物中分离。氢以其丰富的资源、高能量密度和高转化效率等优势成为碳基化石燃料的潜在替代能源载体。有必要发展氢经济，因为到2050年全球石油和天然油的使用量可能会大幅减少，以帮助应对气候变化。氢的生产、储存和分离是发展氢经济的关键挑战。标准的气体储存方法，即在罐中高压下压缩气体，可能会导致安全问题。一个潜在的解决方案是将氢与天然气混合用于特定用途，然后在接收地点将其分离。这种技术可能是一种低压，低温储存和分离系统，可以集成到电力，化工和运输部门，以帮助实现全球能源系统的脱碳。氢是一种能量载体，但它不含碳;因此它燃烧时的二氧化碳（CO2）排放量为零。已经确定了氢气部署的多个问题，包括气体储存、运输和输送。一种选择是重新利用现有的天然气网络，其中氢气可以在商业管道中以所需的比例与天然气混合，并在目的地分离。一类金属间化合物及其合金在受控温度下发生可逆的氢吸收/脱附反应，可以形成高效和高选择性的天然气/氢分离系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the potential development of a possibly safer and improved approach to hydrogen energy storage and separation from a hydrogen-methane gas mixture. Hydrogen has emerged as a promising potential alternative energy carrier to carbon-based fossil fuels due to its advantages including abundance, high energy density, and high conversion efficiency. It is necessary to develop a hydrogen economy as global oil and natural oil use are could be drastically reduced by 2050 to help address climate change. Hydrogen production, storage, and separation for end-use are critical challenges in developing a hydrogen economy. The standard gas storage method, which is to compress it under high pressure in a tank, can lead to perceived safety issues. A potential solution is to blend hydrogen with natural gas for specific uses and then separate it at the receiving site.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a potentially safer transient hydrogen storage and high-density transport technology. This technology which may be a low-pressure, low-temperature storage and separation system could be integrated into the power, chemical, and transportation sectors to assist with reaching the decarbonization of global energy systems. Hydrogen is an energy carrier, but it is devoid of carbon; hence it has zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from combustion. Multiple issues have been identified for hydrogen deployment including gas storage, transport, and delivery. One option is to repurpose the existing natural gas network where hydrogen gas could be mixed with natural gas in the desired ratio in a commercial pipeline and separated once at the destination. A class of metal hydrides and their alloys that are intermetallic compounds are known to undergo reversible hydrogen absorption/desorption reactions under controlled temperature and could form an efficient and highly selective Natural gas/Hydrogen separation system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.