A hydrogen project “Economic Manufacturing Process of Recyclable Composite Materials for Durable Hydrogen Storage” (ECOHYDRO) has been awarded 10 million euros from a Horizon Europe funding competition, the Lower Silesian Hydrogen Valley Association reported via LinkedIn on Wednesday (9 August).
The Department of Mechanics, Materials Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Zespół Katedry Mechaniki, Inżynierii Materiałowej i Biomedycznej z Wydziału Mechanicznego Politechniki Wrocławskiej) are the project’s co-developers.
The main goal of this four-year project is to develop a solution for mass storage and transport of hydrogen in large tanks (from 40 to 300 kg molecular hydrogen gas or H2 in one tank). Depending on the application (for example, hydrogen transportation, fuelling of road, rail, water vehicles, surface energy storage, aviation), hydrogen will be stored in high-pressure or cryogenic composite tanks.
The tanks will be made from materials that enable recycling and self-repair. A system monitoring its technical condition (SHM) will also be built into the composite structure.
An important aspect of the project is the interest shown by French aviation company Airbus in the planned tanks, the Lower Silesian Hydrogen Valley Association said.
The consortium has brought together industrial players and scientific partners with extensive experience in hydrogen and composite technologies, including the French Airbus and European higher education institutions like Institut Mines-Télécom from France and KU Leuven from Belgium.
