One of the biggest challenges hindering the wider adoption of hydrogen is safe and efficient storage, which often involves compressing or liquefying and requires a significant amount of energy, making it generally expensive and inefficient.

Leveraging nano-engineered reticular materials, California-based hydrogen technology startup H2MOF is, however, working on the development of a durable and efficient solid-state hydrogen storage solution that works under ambient temperatures and low pressure.

H2MOF chief technical officer Dr Neel Sirosh tells Engineering News that, as a result of hydrogen being the lightest element, the industry introduced very-high-pressure storage tanks in the form of 700 bar pressured cylinders to increase the energy storage density of hydrogen.

While such highly pressurised hydrogen gas can achieve a good energy storage density, this comes with a significant energy penalty each time the hydrogen cylinder is filled.

To address this, H2MOF’s technology enables high energy storage density at pressures from as low as 20 bar to 100 bar, less than 3% of the pressure of the common 700 bar cylinders.

Another method for increasing the storage density of hydrogen is to liquefy it at a low temperature of  -253 °C. However, this sacrifices up to 45% of the energy content of hydrogen and continuously loses gas energy throughout the duration of storage.

H2MOF’s technology enables high energy storage density at ambient temperature, avoiding the need to waste energy on cooling the hydrogen gas or on maintaining the stored hydrogen gas at a cold temperature. 

H2MOF’s technology also reduces safety concerns related to hydrogen storage by enabling significant storage density at much lower pressure levels, as well as good charge and discharge rates.

Moreover, H2MOF business development VP Magnus Bach adds that, since the solution does not rely on high-pressure or cryogenic liquids, it is safer and more practical for various applications.

Sirosh further notes that the solution has a range of uses, such as for ground storage, as well as for the refuelling of automobiles and the transportation of large quantities of hydrogen.

“What sets it apart is that the solution is applicable across the board. There are different types of reticular materials and they all have different properties, different costs and different heating and cooling rates. We offer custom solutions and that’s what sets us apart,” he says.

APPLICATIONS
While the wider adoption of the hydrogen economy can occur in various ways, H2MOF focuses on the sectors that have proven difficult to decarbonise, such as heavy industries and heavy transportation.

The key application areas currently targeted by H2MOF are long-term hydrogen storage, storage of hydrogen during long-haul transport and hydrogen as a fuel for transportation.

H2MOF’s hydrogen storage technology does not require liquefaction or high pressure, thus lowering the overall cost of delivered hydrogen fuel.

The company’s storage technology can potentially be scaled to provide high-volume storage during transport at ambient temperature and low pressure, thus saving the industry the cost of liquefaction of hydrogen and the cost of high-pressure compression and high pressure storage tanks.  

Further, considering that decarbonising the transportation sector is one of the most critical actions that must be taken to achieve carbon neutrality, equipping transportation vessels with reliable, cost-effective and safe hydrogen storage technology is a prerequisite for realising hydrogen as a clean fuel for the transportation sector, the company asserts.

Bach notes that, despite global efforts to decarbonise, it is estimated that only 20% of energy consumption comes from electricity and only 30% of the electricity generated currently comes from renewable sources. He says that, without wider adoption of green hydrogen as an increasingly renewable source of energy, it will be difficult to decarbonise the energy system at large. 

Green hydrogen is, therefore, an integral part of the ongoing energy transition. Hence, Bach describes hydrogen storage as a “silver bullet” to unlock the real potential of hydrogen.

“While we need hydrogen, it will not take off unless we solve hydrogen storage challenges, and this is exactly what we are trying to do,” says Bach.

H2MOF was established in 2021 by Nobel laureate and Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart, Professor Omar Yaghi and Dr Samer Taha to design and develop durable and efficient solid-state hydrogen storage solutions that work under ambient temperatures and low pressure, by deploying the latest advancements in the field of molecularly engineered materials.

Yaghi, co-founder and pioneer in reticular chemistry, described the company's mission as compressing hydrogen into a small volume without resorting to high pressure or low temperatures.

Despite the inherent challenges, Yaghi and Taha are optimistic of a “quantum leap forward” in hydrogen storage technology within the next few years, accelerated by advancements in AI and computer-generated models.

With growing global interest in hydrogen energy, H2MOF's solution is aimed at playing a pivotal role in advancing the clean energy transition by offering an alternative fuel with a high energy density.

Sirosh notes that the company has made progress in laboratory-level testing of the technology and it plans to complete industrial prototypes in 2025.

He adds that the company is also setting up in-house testing infrastructure. Once the infrastructure has been developed and the company is able to test the solution internally, the company will begin customer trials.

The company is targeting the commercial availability of the technology by 2026/27.