Measuring and Removing Trace Impurities from Silicon Fuel, a Hydrogen Storage Material

“硅燃料是由硅燃料有限公司制造并压制成颗粒的纳米材料。这些颗粒与水反应产生氢气，氢气可用于供应燃料电池发电。这种新材料有可能促进氢经济的发展，允许使用更便宜的制氢设备，使氢气更便宜，更容易获得。例如，它可以允许安装更便宜的加氢站，为燃料电池电动汽车提供氢气。如果硅燃料产生的氢气可以通过国际标准认证，那么它具有明显的高纯度，可以用于一系列应用（例如燃料电池电动汽车的加氢）。目前制造硅燃料的方法导致颗粒中的杂质含量较低，这些杂质可以在产生氢气时转移到氢气中。虽然杂质不会阻止燃料电池的运行，但它们会阻止氢气达到国际标准，可能会限制硅燃料技术的市场接受度。该项目旨在准确测量硅燃料原材料中的关键杂质水平，以及它产生的氢气，并开发一种用于制造硅燃料的改进方法，从而将存在的杂质量降低到最小可能水平。我们希望这将促进硅燃料的认证，从而获得市场认可和采用。"

"Silicon Fuel is nano-material which is manufactured and pressed into pellets by Silicon Fuel Ltd. These pellets react with water to generate hydrogen, which can be used to supply a fuel cell to generate electricity. This new material has the potential to facilitate the developing hydrogen economy, by allowing the use of cheaper hydrogen generation equipment, making hydrogen gas cheaper and easier to access. For example, it could allow the installation of cheaper hydrogen refuelling stations for delivering hydrogen to fuel cell electric vehicles.If the hydrogen generated from Silicon Fuel can be certified to international standards, then it has a demonstrably high purity which allows it to be used in a range of applications (such as refuelling fuel cell electric vehicles). The current method of manufacturing Silicon Fuel results in low levels of impurities in the pellets, which can be transferred to the hydrogen gas when it is generated. Although the impurities do not prevent the running of fuel cells, they can prevent certification of the hydrogen gas to international standards, likely limiting the market acceptance of Silicon Fuel technology.This project aims to accurately measure the levels of key impurities in the raw Silicon Fuel material, and in the hydrogen it generates, and to develop an improved method for manufacturing Silicon Fuel so that the amount of impurities present are reduced to the minimum possible levels. We hope this will facilitate the certification of Silicon Fuel, leading to market acceptance and uptake."