Hydrexia/Magnesium alloys with novel nano-structure to store hydrogen as a solid metal hydride
From:
hydrexia.com.au
hydrexia.com.au
The Technology
Hydrogen is favoured as a clean energy to replace hydrocarbons. However, storage of the gas is a large barrier to its adoption as a fuel for most applications, with available storage methods suffering from significant cost and performance disadvantages.
Hydrexia is developing cast magnesium alloys with novel nano-structure to store hydrogen as a solid metal hydride. The alloys are produced using conventional casting equipment, and are therefore expected to have significant economic benefits over hydrogen storage materials produced by conventional means.
To maximise the hydrogen storage capacity and hydrogen release rate, modifications have been made to the casting technique, but without adding significantly to the cost or complexity of the production process.
Under laboratory conditions, Hydrexia’s alloys have been shown to deliver commercially viable hydrogen storage capacities at low cost. The alloys have demonstrated a hydrogen storage capacity of up to 7 wt%, which would allow a vehicle carrying a 100kg [220lbs] hydrogen storage unit to safely store hydrogen for a 500km driving range (a target set by the US Department of Energy for hydrogen storage systems by 2010).
Hydrexia is currently working towards demonstrating that this storage capacity can be achieved in a full-scale prototype at acceptable hydrogen release temperatures.
If the scale-up is successful, the company hopes to deliver order of magnitude reductions in cost when compared to existing hydrogen storage systems.
Ref:
Hydrogen power researchers win Enterprize award
Liliana Molina
18oct05
WHEN it comes to finding a revolutionary way to store hydrogen in cars, it's not just about white-coated scientists in labs.
The bulk of a $100,000 win in the University of Queensland Business School's Enterprize competition by Brisbane researcher Hydrexia last week will go into hiring a full-time chief executive and shoring up its business plan rather than more time in the lab.
The mostly government-funded company has been working on a hydrogen storage system to be used in cars and expects to release a prototype for testing as early as February.
The lightweight 30cm storage tank is similar to a barbecue gas bottle and soaks up hydrogen like a sponge. It is expected to be available commercially by 2013.
But like most scientists, the researchers behind the project, Associate Professor Arne Dahle and Dr Kazuhiro Nogita, would prefer to spend their time working rather than seeking funding and developing business plans. Chief executive Jeffrey Ng has been working part time with the company since July but admits there has been a lot of extra work done on his own time.
"My job is to get them all the resources they need to deliver on what the company needs to deliver on," Mr Ng says.
"I would struggle to find my way around a lab."
UQ Business School head Dr Tim Brailsford says the Enterprize competition, in which seven businesses pitched their ideas to a group of investors, helps give start-up companies an idea of what venture capitalists are looking for.
"The process itself is a discipline which focuses them on to think how the business is going to be positioned," Dr Brailsford says.
"(The participants) find out there's got to be a very structured business concept (to get funding)."
Hydrexia also won the people's choice award at the competition, while vehicle tuning system LEO Tuning won the i.lab technology incubator prize.
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