Continuous monitoring systems for the SAFE storage, distribution and usage of Hydrogen POWER for transport

Objective

The limited supplies of traditional fossil fuels and environmental damage caused by their CO2 emissions have caused a growing interest in the exploitation of renewable energy sources. By far the most promising replacement fuel for road transport is hydrogen because of its abundance, efficiency, low footprint for carbon and the absence of other harmful emissions. In 2015 it is expected that the number of hydrogen fuel installations will exceed a hundred thousand units.

Because hydrogen can react explosively with air there is inevitably public apprehension about using hydrogen as a mass market fuel that can inhibit wider commercialisation. Technical issues regarding hydrogen storage leakage are (i) the small size of the H molecule which causes it to diffuse through relatively open structured materials such as composites, and (ii) the phenomenon of Hydrogen Embrittlement (HE) which seriously reduces the strength of metals in extended contact with hydrogen. In order to greatly improve public confidence in the safety of hydrogen fuel, to address the technical issues, and thus facilitate the rapid commercialisation of hydrogen powered road transport, this project will develop a technology that will detect leaks and structural weakening of containment vessels caused by HE. This will prevent catastrophic failure of vessels which can actually occur before even small leaks arise. Particularly, the project goal is to develop novel tangential neutron radiography and acoustic emission (AE) techniques in combination for the reliable and cost effective continuous monitoring of the integrity of hydrogen storage tanks at central depots, service stations and on vehicles i.e. at every point of hydrogen storage along the supply chain from the production plant to the fuel tank on a hydrogen powered vehicle. The novelty of neutron radiography is that it exploits stored hydrogen as a contrast medium for the exposure of tank defects.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• engineering and technology materials engineering composites
• social sciences social geography transport
• engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-SME - Specific Programme "Capacities": Research for the benefit of SMEs

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• SME-2013-1 - Research for SMEs

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-SME-2013
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

BSG-SME - Research for SMEs

Coordinator

Participants (6)