Product Development

HSM is planning to introduce a prototype product for the existing merchant hydrogen market – the roughly 20% of the market that currently does not generate hydrogen on site. This product will form the backbone of the Company by establishing the technology, growing the brand identity, and producing revenue within the existing merchant hydrogen market as well as the emergence of hydrogen use in automotive applications

In order to expand the use of the company’s containers for the packaging of hydrogen, an improvement is required in the material in which the hydrogen is stored. The current product utilizes a known metal hydride that allows the container to store 0.9% hydrogen by weight overall. This low density storage material adds significant weight and cost to the container compared with the traditional hydrogen bottle, which is 5% hydrogen by weight overall. Improvement and/or replacement of the metal hydride with an advanced material capable of chemically storing more hydrogen by weight are highly desirable.

HSM has identified several promising candidates for novel hydrogen storage materials, and a completely new means of reprocessing established hydrogen storage materials that are currently not viable as commercial materials owing to their irreversibility. The company is exploring the use of supercritical fluid technology in the synthesis and rehydrogenation of light metal hydrogen storage materials, using known materials to test the new technology.

The research is expected to produce a new hydrogen storage material and a process by which the material can be fabricated into a powder for use in commercial applications that store more than 6% hydrogen by weight: the ultimate target is to achieve greater than 9% hydrogen by weight. By utilizing the new material at 6% hydrogen by weight, the HSM container outlined above will offer a 15% cost advantage over the existing hydrogen gas bottles, at the same time reducing the volume to 12% of the existing bottle volume and maintaining the full container weight within 30% of the existing bottle weight. HSM believes that this will lead to acceptance of its HSM container as the industry standard, and will allow for the expansion of its business into hydride tanker trucks for the widespread distribution of hydrogen, and for the use of its container as a fuel tank within fuel cell and hydrogen powered vehicles.

The HSM prototype compares favorably with current hydrogen storage bottles sold in substantial quantity for the storage and transportation of hydrogen. The HSM container holding a quantity of hydrogen equal to a standard laboratory bottle containing 48,000 standard liters of hydrogen would be 72.3% smaller than the standard laboratory container. A HSM container of the same size as the standard laboratory hydrogen bottle would contain 3.69 times the amount of hydrogen as the standard laboratory bottle. The standard laboratory bottle discussed above has a weight of 138.7 lbs and the HSM container holding the equal amount of gas as the standard laboratory bottle would weigh 322.1 lbs. Through the development of novel materials, HSM is confident that it will be able to achieve a weight advantage of more than 3% against the standard hydrogen bottle thereby improving the marketability of this product.

In addition, the low pressure and rectangular shape of the HSM container add to the robustness of this design and increase the safety of handling. The cylindrical shape and high pressure within the standard laboratory bottle makes safe handling the bottle safely a serious concern: special devices are necessary to safely control the bottle in shipment and to handle the bottle without dropping. It has been reported that the Bottle neck can break if a bottle is dropped and the high pressure gas can vent rapidly through the narrow opening causing the cylinder to act like a missile. Because it is rectangular and not cylindrical in shape, the HSM container does not require any such special handling devices. The low pressure removes the threat of turning the container into a projectile upon breakage and reduces the risk of explosion and fire.

HSM is working with Martec Engineering and iDLabs (Dalhousie University) in completion of a design, modeling of the design, and fabrication of parts for a hydrogen container utilizing sodium alanate. This container includes advanced heat transfer, safe placement of materials and safe storage of hydrogen, low pressure, high density storage of hydrogen, and use of the newly developed rehydrogenation method of sodium alanate. Parts are currently being assembled such that the first prototype will be available for testing by the end of February 2007 and will conclude testing and be ready for initial market testing in mid April 2007.

HSM is also been working with Dalhousie University and the UNB in the development of a new product for use of alane as a hydrogen storage medium within an automotive application. This product concept will be completed by April 2007 and final product engineering and fabrication will follow during the balance of the year.