Design and modular scale-up of shell and tube metal hydride hydrogen storage reactor utilizing multi-pass water flow

Shell-and-tube designs with multi-pass fluid flow are not used for metal hydride hydrogen storage reactors. Here, the absorption performances of reactors having shell outer diam-eter [OD]: 114.3, 141.3 and 168.3 mm with 36, 60 and 92 tubes arranged in 3, 4 and 5 circular arrays housing 25 kg LaNi5 at 20 bar hydrogen pressure, 10 LPM water entering at 30 degrees C are simulated. Considering the trade-off between tube volume and reaction duration, OD: 141.3 mm, 60 tubes offers a balanced performance with 90% absorption taking-320 s with four water passes (4-pass-scheme) vis-= a-vis-380 s with one pass (1-pass-scheme). This design is scaled-up to house 100 kg LaNi5 with four modules in series and parallel con-figurations. When in series, reactors take 320, 425, 545, and 665 s for 90% absorption; in parallel, each reactor takes 625 s. At higher water flow rate (40 LPM) series and parallel configurations perform similarly.(c) 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.