State of the Art in Hydrogen Liquefaction
Abstract
Hydrogen is a potential option to replace fossil fuels considering the increasing demand of energy applications. It is naturally abundant and is regarded as a suitable energy carrier. There has been extensive research to improve the efficiency of storing hydrogen with different methods, including gas compression, liquefaction and sorption in metal hydrides or carbon nanotubes. A comparison of the storage methods shows that liquefaction of hydrogen is more beneficial than compression of hydrogen in terms of higher volumetric capacity, and it is more technologically mature than sorption technologies. This makes it more plausible for long distance distribution. On the other hand, the obstacles in full exploitation of the method are low energy efficiency of the liquefaction process and associated high cost. The recent research has been focusing on increasing the energy efficiency of the storage process. This paper provides, with regard to the conventional methods, a state of the art review of the novel and modified liquefaction process and the latest developments in increasing the efficiency of the energy intensive process. Furthermore, the developments in combining the hydrogen liquefaction plants with renewable energy sources are covered and reviewed. Finally, the ongoing development of hydrogen liquefaction is highlighted.