Design and optimization of hydrogen storage units using advanced solid materials: General mathematical framework and recent developments

This review presents the general mathematical framework of modeling, design and optimization of hydrogen storage using advanced solid materials. The emphasis is given on metal hydride storage tanks, since these systems have been well studied in the literature, both theoretically and experimentally, and are expected to offer significant advantages when current research and development efforts succeed in commercializing the required technology. Enhanced cooling during hydrogen filling of the storage tank is found to be essential to improve hydrogen storage time requirements. For this reason several innovative design strategies for heat exchanger configurations are presented and evaluated in terms of process design and performance improvement. Finally, control and optimization of certain operating conditions can also have a significant impact in hydrogen storage operation.