INDUSTRIAL PROTOTYPE OF A HYDROGEN COMPRESSOR BASED ON METALLIC HYDRIDE TECHNOLOGY

This work reports an improvement in the technique of metal hydride utilization in the hydrogen compression process: an industrial prototype of a thermochemical hydrogen compressor. This prototype uses a fixed bed (the reactor) of FeTi metallic alloy which reacts exothermically with hydrogen (absorption of the gas) at room temperature and at 1 MPa of pressure, and desorbs the pressurized hydrogen at one specific temperature for each pressure (250-degrees-C for 10 M Pa). The project, manufacture, operation, performance and a comparison with a conventional mechanical compressor working in the compression of ultrapure hydrogen is presented. The cost of the prototype in Brazil is also given.