Why focus on the storage and transportation of Hydrogen?

Hydrogen is by far the most plentiful element in existence, making up more than 75% of the visible mass of the universe. It is also the simplest and one of the most studied of all elements. However, in spite of its cosmic abundance, hydrogen gas is surprisingly difficult to produce in large quantities on Earth, and even more difficult to store and transport economically.

Being the lightest and least dense of all the elements, hydrogen requires a large volume to store and transport, and its energy density is correspondingly low. Hydrogen gas takes up 15.4 times the volume of gasoline with the equivalent energy content. In other words, if hydrogen were used as a fuel source for automobiles instead of gasoline, over a dozen tanker trucks of hydrogen would be required to deliver the same amount of energy as a single tanker truck of gasoline to a filling station. Even if hydrogen is compressed to high pressures or converted to a liquid by cooling it to –258 °C, it still occupies three times the volume of gasoline containing the same amount of energy, and these processes require a high energy input and very expensive equipment.

This low energy density of hydrogen converts directly into additional costs in its storage and distribution. As a replacement fuel, hydrogen will require more energy to transport from the site of generation to the site of its use. Already a more expensive option than traditional fossil fuels, these additional costs impede the use of hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels. However, as a specialty gas, hydrogen enjoys a unique and large worldwide market in the chemical and petrochemical industries. It is used widely in the production of ammonia, fats and oils, and methanol, and by gasoline refineries for hydro cracking or to produce low-sulfur gasoline. Hydrogen is used for high temperature welding and for the reduction of metal ores to produce high purity metals; it is a primary ingredient in rocket fuels, and is used as a rotor coolant in aerospace reactors. It has important applications in the manufacture of superconductors and is an important processing material for the fabrication of many electronic components. And finally, it is used in glass making and in many research and development applications in laboratories all over the world.

In fact, the current worldwide demand for hydrogen is more than 45 million tones annually. This equates to a worldwide market in excess of $10 billion for the specialty gas. This market is growing at an annual rate of roughly 5%, even without the emergence of new hydrogen technologies in areas such as fuel cells and energy generation. A market survey reveals that a majority of this hydrogen (roughly 65% of the market) is generated at the site of use. Such on-site generation is more expensive than centralized hydrogen production, but the costs of storage and distribution are sufficiently high to make this a cost-effective operation. HSM Systems will significantly reduce the costs of storage and distribution by introducing a product that allows for high density, low cost storage of the gas in a container that can be safely shipped by conventional means.

The development of a high density, low cost means of storing and distributing hydrogen is the major hurdle preventing widespread hydrogen use in the energy and transport sectors.

Combining our passion and strong beliefs that there are new and better ways just on the horizon with the wider commercialization possibilities into the emerging transportation applications of hydrogen afforded by the new materials we feel HSM is in a great space to make a difference.

Chris Willson
President