Hydrogen & Tritium Science & Technology
Dr. Ragaiy Zidan has conducted internationally recognized research on materials for hydrogen storage. His current focus is hydrogen storage research and development involving novel materials such as alanates, doped carbon nanotubes, and both amorphous and conventional metal hydrides.
SRNL’s proficiency in hydrogen technology supports the national defense, and has expanded hydrogen’s potential as a future energy source.
SRNL’s support has been integral to the Savannah River Site’s tritium operations, which have been producing, recycling, and purifying tritium to support the national defense since 1955. Today, SRS is the nation’s only center for recycling and purifying tritium, and SRNL continues its crucial role, developing more efficient techniques for separating and storing the gas.
That same expertise is also applied to research and development in hydrogen for energy uses. In his 2003 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush announced a Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to reverse America’s growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technologies to make it practical and cost-effective for large numbers of Americans to choose to use clean, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. SRNL is working on the technologies to not only make those vehicles a reality in the future, but to make hydrogen an important part of the nation’s overall energy strategy, powering our homes, vehicles and industries.
SRNL has the largest collection of hydrogen experts in the country, with more than 80 scientists and engineers dedicated to hydrogen and tritium missions. SRNL is also a founding member of the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance, a not-for-profit organization which represents the interests of South Carolina industry, academia, and research organizations involved in the new hydrogen economy. top
Production
Separation
Storage
Hydrogen Facilities
Dr. Leung (Kit) Heung has over 20 years of experience in the development of hydrogen processing technology and holds 13 patents. His research interests include hydrogen storage and isotope separation technologies.
Production
Hydrogen is plentiful across our planet, but it is bound in water or other compounds. Breaking apart those compounds to release the hydrogen requires energy, so the quest is to find the cleanest, most energy-efficient method possible to do this. SRNL expertise is being focused on a number of initiatives to develop clean, safe, cost-effective methods of producing hydrogen. These include:
Leading a team of industrial and academic partners to analyze the technical and economic issues associated with nuclear production of hydrogen production, with particular emphasis on hydrogen infrastructure issues.
Studying the use of biological sources, such as microalgae, to produce hydrogen.
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Separation
SRNL has extensive experience in hydrogen separation technology based on its ongoing defense work and continues to develop new and more efficient processes. SRNL has recently developed a new patented technology for separating hydrogen from other gases, particularly carbon monoxide and other hydrocarbon combustion products.
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SRNL is a national leader in developing metal hydride materials for hydrogen storage. Shown is lanthanum nickel aluminum alloy.
Storage
Hydrogen storage is a critical issue in meeting the President’s goals for the next generation of energy technology. SRNL’s long history of support for the SRS tritium programs had led to the development of extensive expertise in technologies for the safe, stable storage of hydrogen in solid-state forms.
- SRNL is a leader in the development and application of technologies that use metal hydrides – metal granules that reversibly absorb and release hydrogen like a sponge. Hydrides make it possible to store hydrogen in an easy-to-handle, stable solid form. SRNL has developed and patented several devices using hydride for storing hydrogen, with applications for transportation and other industries.
- SRNL researchers are actively involved in research into novel materials for hydrogen storage, such as materials called alanates, which have hydrogen storage capabilities similar to the metal hydrides, but are much lighter weight, making them more suitable for use in consumer vehicles.
- SRNL is leading a basic science research project exploring the use of carbon nanostructures for hydrogen storage. In this project, they are studying the physical and chemical properties of these tiny structures, and the mechanisms they use to bond with hydrogen. Carbon nanotubes are long, thin structures (approximately 1/10,000 the width of a human hair), which can be pictured as a hexagonal lattice of carbon rolled into a cylinder. Recent research has indicated that carbon nanotubes have great potential as a way to store hydrogen in a solid structure because they may be able to bond with large amounts of hydrogen at room temperature.
- SRNL researchers are at the forefront of research and development of glass microspheres (tiny glass “bubbles” less than 100 microns in diameter) for glass storage, combining two of the laboratory’s celebrated areas of expertise: glass formulation and hydrogen. Researchers have successfully produced microspheres with porous walls, allowing them to load the “bubbles” with hydrogen-absorbing materials. In addition to its potential as a safe, easy-to-handle method of storing hydrogen for energy use, this technology also offers great potential in a wide range of other fields, where the microspheres could be filled with other materials as used as a storage or delivery system.
- SRNL is supporting the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code Committee on Hydrogen Storage Tanks to help provide the needed changes to the pressure vessel code for safe hydrogen storage.
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Hydrogen Facilities
SRNL conducts leading-edge research and development using facilities such as:
- High-pressure hydrogen laboratories
- Heat transfer laboratory
- Bench- and pilot-scale hydrogen storage and delivery systems
- Failure analyses and materials testing laboratories
- Spectroscopic laboratories
SRNL is now conducting all of its unclassified hydrogen research and development at the new Center for Hydrogen Research at the Savannah River Research Campus. Aiken County (South Carolina) built this state-of-the-art laboratory facility in 2005 adjacent to the Savannah River National Laboratory as a place where SRNL, industry and academia could work in close proximity. SRNL occupies half of the 60,000-square-foot facility; the other half is being leased to universities and companies engaged in hydrogen research and development.
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