Project description
Hydrogen storage vessels built to last – and to be recycled
Hydrogen gas has three times greater energy density by weight, but far less by volume, than conventional liquid petroleum fuels. For use in transport, it is highly compressed, making its safe storage a challenge. Thermoset composites around polymer liners have largely replaced metals as storage container materials. Now, thermoplastic polymers are in line to replace thermosets, because they have the potential to reduce refuelling/emptying time, cleaning time, costs, weight and volume while enhancing safety performance and recyclability. The EU-funded THOR project is developing a demonstrator of a thermoplastic hydrogen storage vessel to validate the principle of H2 gaseous recyclable tanks for further integration in transportation applications, ultimately strengthening the EU's hydrogen fuel economy.
Objective
THOR aims at developing a cost-effective thermoplastic composite pressure vessel for hydrogen storage both for vehicle and for transportation applications. Thermoplastics appear as a promising solution to the challenges faced by conventional tanks in terms of compatibility with hydrogen service and with mass automotive market requirements. The use of thermoplastic materials, advanced numerical modeling techniques and innovative manufacturing processes will boost the performance, improve safety, enable optimized tank geometry and weight (reduction of 10%) and reduce the cost for mass production (400€/kg of H2 stored for 30 000 tanks/year). A series of tests extracted from demanding automotive standards will validate all the requirements and demonstrate that thermoplastic tanks outperform thermoset ones. The consortium is representative of the hydrogen supply chain, from technology developer to manufacturer and end-user enhancing market uptake: a disruptive technology provider with successful commercial experience of thermoplastic tanks (COVESS), an ambitious Tier One supplier targeting a wide market introduction towards all OEMs (FAURECIA), an industrial gas expert with a long history related to hydrogen and a complementary end-user of tanks for hydrogen supply and refueling station operations (AIR LIQUIDE). This core industrial team is limited in purpose to avoid possible future commercial conflicts of interests and backed up with top research expertise to address all the identified challenges: an innovation center for material research with important tank scale testing capacity (CSM), a technology center in the fields of composite materials, manufacturing, automation, and testing (SIRRIS), academic teams with strong experience of composite materials and non-destructive testing (NTNU) and of thermo-mechanical materials behavior under fire aggression (CNRS) and a technical center with an innovative recycling technology for thermoplastic composites (CETIM-CERMAT).
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineering
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- natural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometry
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
92000 Nanterre
France