Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Tsukuba, and colleagues in Japan report a promising hydrogen carrier in the form of hydrogen boride nanosheets. The two-dimensional materials derived from magnesium diboride (MgB2) were first reported by researchers in Japan in 2017. The nanosheets exhibit extraordinary electronic and mechanical properties... Read more →

In Tokyo, the Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) called for research proposals from Japan for 2019 under the Hydrogen Research Initiative established in 2017. This initiative is part of TMF’s goal to promote sustainable mobility. It recognizes that pairing carbon-free hydrogen systems with renewable energies contributes to energy sustainability. It also... Read more →

The Nikkei reports that the second Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting—a policy platform for global utilization of hydrogen—scheduled to open in Japan on Wednesday will call for 10 million fuel cell vehicles—including trains, planes and automobiles—in 10 years. Currently, only around 10,000 vehicles around the world run on fuel cells. Japanese... Read more →

The US Department of Energy announced $50 million for new and innovative research of technologies for trucks, off-road vehicles, and the fuels that power them. Funded through the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), these selections highlight the DOE’s priorities in gaseous fuels research, including natural gas,... Read more →

Faurecia, one of the world’s leading automotive technology companies, is creating a global center of expertise for hydrogen storage systems at its R&D center in Bavans, France. Faurecia aims to invest in research and development in new-generation high-pressure tanks that are more efficient and lighter, as well as in a... Read more →

The Artois-Gohelle transport authority (SMT-AG) has inaugurated France’s first refueling station for hydrogen buses. The entire clean hydrogen production, storage and distribution chain is equipped with McPhy technologies. The SMT-AG has attributed to ENGIE, via its subsidiary GNVERT, the design, supply, installation and maintenance of the Houdain-Divion hydrogen gas distribution... Read more →

A recent study has suggested a new strategy for storing hydrogen, using natural gas as a stabilizer. The research proposed a practical gas phase modulator based synthesis of a hydrogen-natural gas blend (HNGB) without generating chemical waste after dissociation for the immediate service. A paper on the work is published... Read more →

An international team of researchers, led by Professor David Antonelli of Lancaster University, has discovered a new material made from manganese hydride that could be used to make molecular sieves within hydrogen fuel tanks. The material—KMH-1 (Kubas Manganese Hydride-1)—demonstrates a reversible excess adsorption performance of 10.5 wt% and 197 kgH2... Read more →

Researchers at UNSW Sydney (Australia), with partner H2Store, an Australian start-up, have received a $3.5-million investment from Providence Asset Group to develop a hydrogen hydride storage system that could mean cheaper, safer storage for renewable energy for a range of applications, including residential. Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou and his team at... Read more →

The US Department of Energy announced up to $31 million in funding (DE-FOA-0002022) to advance the H2@Scale concept. (Earlier post.) The focus of H2@Scale is to enable affordable and reliable large-scale hydrogen generation, transport, storage, and utilization in the United States across multiple sectors. By producing hydrogen when power generation... Read more →

An international team of researchers has developed a manganese hydride molecular sieve that can be readily synthesized from inexpensive precursors and demonstrates a reversible excess adsorption performance of 10.5 wt% and 197 kgH2m-3 at 120 bar at ambient temperature with no loss of activity after 54 cycles. The team projects... Read more →

A team led by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has used metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to set a new record for hydrogen storage capacity under normal operating conditions. A paper on their work is published in the ACS journal Chemistry of Materials. Hydrogen-powered vehicles... Read more →

MAN Cryo, the wholly owned subsidiary of MAN Energy Solutions, has—in close cooperation with Fjord1 and Multi Maritime in Norway—developed a marine fuel-gas system for liquefied hydrogen. Multi Maritime’s hydrogen vessel design for Fjord1, including the fully integrated MAN Cryo – Hydrogen Fuel Gas System, has been granted preliminary approval... Read more →

H2-Industries and Lloyd’s Register (LR) are working together on developing safety standards for all-electric vessels powered by emission-free Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) technology. The project is seeking to obtain Approval in Principle for the use of LOHC technology on ships. This covers the refueling of ships with LOHC, the... Read more →

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) is calling for research proposals from Japan for 2018 under the Hydrogen Research Initiative established in 2017. (Earlier post.) This initiative is part of TMF’s goal to promote sustainable mobility. It recognizes that pairing carbon-free hydrogen systems with renewable energies contributes to energy sustainability. It... Read more →

On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) awarded A$22.1 million (US$16 million) in funding to 16 research projects to propel innovation in exporting renewable hydrogen. The funding has been offered to research teams from nine Australian universities and research organisations including the Australian National University,... Read more →

An economically-sustainable hydrogen industry in Australia could soon be on the cards according to a blueprint released by CSIRO, the national science agency, which found that cost-competitiveness is firmly on the horizon. Source: CSIRO. The National Hydrogen Roadmap sets out a path to develop the action and investment plans required... Read more →

In a successful demonstration of technology capability, researchers at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have filled Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel cell vehicles using ultra-high purity hydrogen produced in Queensland using CSIRO’s novel H2-NH3 membrane separation technology. (Earlier post.) Ammonia (NH3) has high capacity for... Read more →

The South Korean government and businesses will invest some 2.6 trillion won (US $2.33 billion) over the next five years in a public-private partnership to speed up the development of the country’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle ecosystem, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). The target is... Read more →

Clariant’s a Catalysts business has formed an alliance with Hydrogenious Technologies to provide reliable, scalable and safe hydrogen supply solutions for a wide variety of applications. Hydrogen’s very low density, high flammability and extreme volatility present significant challenges to both storage and transportation. Conventional storage methods typically involve either physical... Read more →

Toyota projects that global sales of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) will increase significantly after 2020 to at least 30,000 per year from today’s 3,000. To prepare for this growth, the company unveiled plans for two major new facilities: a brand-new building near its original automobile factory for expanding fuel... Read more →

Ammonia (NH3) has been drawing attention as a carbon-free alternative fuel. NH3 could be widely used in thermal power generation and industrial furnaces as an alternative to gasoline and light oil. However, compared with fossil fuels, NH3 has a high ignition temperature; a low combustion rate and N2O/NOx production. To... Read more →

The University of Bristol is leading a US$1.4-million (£947,336) project—NanoComposites for Active Gas Encapsulation (nanoCAGE)—which will deliver smart composite materials to address the problem of safe and efficient hydrogen storage. A low-density gas, hydrogen is challenging to store on-board a vehicle. Nanoporous materials (materials containing holes only a few nanometers... Read more →

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), alongside Shell Technology Ventures (STV), has taken a stake in High-Yield Energy Technologies (HyET) (earlier post), a Dutch company that has developed cost-effective electrochemical hydrogen compression (EHC) technology. HyET’s technology is a reliable substitute for mechanical hydrogen compression both in existing industrial applications and in hydrogen... Read more →

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) has selected ten researchers to receive grants from the research program to support innovative hydrogen energy solutions launched last year. (Earlier post.) The Hydrogen Research Initiative started in July 2017 to support innovative research to reduce the output of carbon dioxide and/or the cost of... Read more →

Trillium CNG, a leading US provider of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle fueling facilities and part of the Love’s Family of Companies, will design, build and maintain hydrogen fueling stations. Trillium’s new services also include electric vehicle charging infrastructure, solar panel installation, and microgrid design and construction. The company will... Read more →

In Bonn, as global leaders gathered at COP 23, the Hydrogen Council coalition (earlier post) released a report developed with support from McKinsey quantifying the potential for hydrogen in the energy transition. According to the study, if deployed at scale, hydrogen could account for almost one-fifth of total final energy... Read more →

The Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Energy (MOE) and the Israel Innovation Authority, announced $4.8 million for five newly selected energy projects as part of the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Energy program. The approved projects will leverage cost-share for a total project value... Read more →

An inexpensive and useful layered superconductor compound also may be an efficient solid-state material for storing hydrogen. Through theory and experimentation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists, with colleagues at Sandia and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories, have discovered the key mechanism by which magnesium diboride (MgB2) absorbs hydrogen and provided... Read more →

A group of researchers in Spain—from the Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, the University of Zaragoza and the Institute of Chemical Technology of the Universitat Politècnica de València-CSIC—coordinated by Professor José Antonio Mata of the UJI, have developed and patented a new procedure for the efficient on-demand production, storage and... Read more →

At this year’s IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Mercedes-Benz is presenting preproduction models of the new Mercedes-Benz GLC F‑CELL (earlier post). Under the technology designation EQ Power, the latest electric model (destined for subsequent series production) from the Mercedes-Benz family combines fuel-cell and battery technology in the form of... Read more →

The London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has begun a trial to test Suzuki Burgman hydrogen-powered scooters. The Burgman was the world’s first fuel cell scooter to achieve the EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval. (Earlier post.) The hydrogen fuel cell scooters will be used by Police Community Support Officers within the... Read more →

Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials, has introduced a material solution for high-pressure composite tanks for hydrogen storage. Hydrogen has the highest energy per mass of any fuel. One kg of hydrogen is equivalent to 33.3 kWh—three times more energy than conventional fuel. However,... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for proposals (H2_AT_SCALE_CRADA_CALL) for research projects that address the Hydrogen at Scale (H2@Scale) concept (earlier post), which enables wide-scale production and use of hydrogen to address issues such as grid resiliency, energy storage and security, domestic job creation, and domestic... Read more →

At a special preview event held in Seoul, Hyundai Motor provided an early glimpse of its next-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, which is due to launch early next year. The new fuel cell SUV will spearhead Hyundai Motor’s plans to accelerate development of low emission vehicles, in line with Hyundai... Read more →

Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation have concluded a basic agreement for studies on energy conservation and CO2 emissions reduction in convenience store distribution and operation. The two companies aim to contribute to the realization of a low-carbon and hydrogen-based society in the future, by way of introducing... Read more →

Norway-based Hexagon Composites’ subsidiary Hexagon Lincoln has completed the development and initial deliveries of storage tanks for a Toyota heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell truck. (Earlier post.) Toyota Motor North America Research and Development (TMNA R&D) has received the first hydrogen tanks to be used in the project. With this delivery... Read more →

Germany’s H2 filling station network is growing at an increasing pace. After the opening of stations in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt in June, Daimler, Shell and Linde have now commissioned two more hydrogen stations in Sindelfingen and Pforzheim. This brings the number of fueling options for fuel-cell cars in Baden-Württemberg to... Read more →

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) has launched a research program to spur the development of a “hydrogen society”—envisioned as a set of communities with integrated, green-energy networks powered by mini-hydrogen plants that aim to create a carbon-free, hydrogen distribution system. TMF has begun soliciting research proposals under this new program.... Read more →

Four Japanese companies—Chiyoda, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha—have launched the “Advanced Hydrogen Energy Chain Association for Technology Development”(AHEAD) along with the world’s first Global Hydrogen Supply Chain Demonstration Project. The project, a subsidized “Technology Development Project to establish Hydrogen Society/Technology Development for the Utilization of Large Scale Hydrogen... Read more →

The UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has published a report which highlights and prioritizes the current measurement challenges facing the hydrogen industry. The report emphasizes the importance of addressing these challenges should hydrogen play a significant role in a transition to a decarbonized energy system. NPL is the UK’s National... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced approximately $15.8 million for 30 new projects aimed at discovery and development of novel, low-cost materials necessary for hydrogen production and storage and for fuel cells onboard light-duty vehicles. Selected projects will leverage national lab consortia launched under DOE’s Energy Materials Network (EMN)... Read more →

Researchers at Oita University in Japan have developed an innovative process for the production of hydrogen from ammonia without the need for an external heat source to initiate or maintain the reaction. An open access paper on their work is published in the journal Science Advances. Liquid ammonia (NH3) has... Read more →

A team at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, has demonstrated a novel hydrogen storage system based on the release of hydrogen from catalytic dehydrogenative coupling of methanol and 1,2-diamine. The hydrogen-generating step of this process can be termed as “amine reforming of... Read more →

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Mahidol University in Thailand and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have leveraged nano-confinement to develop an efficient solid-state hydrogen storage system that could be a boon for hydrogen-powered vehicles. The researchers examined the high-capacity lithium nitride (Li3N) hydrogen storage... Read more →

The California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board released the annual Joint Agency Staff Report on Assembly Bill 8: 2016 Assessment of Time and Cost Needed to Attain 100 Hydrogen Refueling Stations in California. The 2016 Joint Report updates the time and cost assessments to design, permit, construct, and... Read more →

Hydrogenious Technologies GmbH and MAN Diesel & Turbo SE—which, in addition to being a leading provider of large-bore diesels and turbomachinery for marine and stationary applications, is also a specialist for salt-bed reactors for chemical industry—recently closed an agreement for joint development of industrial-scale Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) hydrogenation... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced approximately $30 million in available funding (DE-FOA-0001647), subject to appropriations, for research and development of low-cost hydrogen production, onboard hydrogen storage, and proton exchange membrane fuel cells to advance the widespread commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles. Selected projects will leverage national lab... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the 2017 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase I Release 2 topics, including three subtopics focused on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The fuel cell subtopics include innovative materials for bipolar plates; liquid organic hydrogen carriers; and... Read more →

Layers of graphene separated by nanotube pillars of boron nitride (PGBN) may be a excellent material for on-board hydrogen storage in vehicles, according to a computational study by a pair of Rice University scientists. The study by Rouzbeh Shahsavari and Farzaneh Shayeganfar appears in the ACS journal Langmuir. Shahsavari and... Read more →