The HyCARE consortium started to project activities since January 2019 and finished at the end of July 2023. Because of Covid pandemic, various delays have been encountered and the total duration of the project was higher than planned. An exhibition event entitled “The HyCARE system. Opportunities and challenges of the energy storage sector” was held in Paris on April 21st, 2023. The event showed the main results of activities carried out during the HyCARE Project.
Up to 46 kilograms of hydrogen are stored at less than 50 barg and less than 100 °C in a twenty-foot container. The innovative design is based on a maritime container, including twelve TiFe metal hydride hydrogen storage tanks, coupled with a thermal energy storage in PCM. The HyCARE hydrogen-heat-storage system consists of a complex construction, composed of several units/modules linked together and connected with different loops, which manage different fluids. Fluids involved in the system are the following: (i) hydrogen gas, (ii) cooling/heating water-glycol solution, (iii) nitrogen for instrumentation valve operation and (iv) argon for inertization of the HyCARE hydrogen-carrying equipment.
The system implements the recovery of the heat released during the hydrogen absorption in the hydride by storing it in the PCM, which is placed in 12 fixed tanks on the lower part of the container, each connected to one MH tank. This heat transfer between MH tanks and the PCM is performed via the cooling/heating fluid (or Thermal Fluid Vector – TFV, non-flammable non-toxic water-ethylene glycol mixture); this energy is later used during the desorption phase. The losses of energy through the insulation is supplied by an external source (solar panels where possible). The amount of heat to be stored in the PCM tank is correlated to the amount of hydrogen stored in the HyCARE system and correspondingly, to the reversible storage capacity of the metal hydride.
