EADS Innovation Works, the corporate research arm, this week said it is working with university researchers to find a new solid state storage system for hydrogen, and nanotech may be the key.
This technology would make it possible to use hydrogen as a clean alternative to traditional hydrocarbon-based fuels in aeroplane and car engines.
Hydrogen is a clean fuel which produces only water on combustion or when combined with oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electrical power. However, it can be expensive and difficult to store safely.
Chemists at the University of Glasgow are working with EADS by using nanotechnology to alter the design and material composition of a storage tank with the aim of making it so efficient that it will be feasible to use solid state hydrogen on an industrial scale for aeroplanes and cars.
If the developments to the tank structure are successful, EADS is planning to fly an un-manned hydrogen-powered test plane in 2014 with a longer term view of introducing commercial aeroplanes powered by hydrogen.
“Replacing traditional hydrocarbon-based fuels with pollution-free hydrogen in aeroplane and car engines would deliver huge benefits to the environment because carbon emissions would be dramatically reduced” said Ing. Agata Godula-Jopek, Fuel Cells Expert in the EADS Power Generation Team, which is coordinating the program for the company.
Duncan Gregory, professor of Inorganic Materials at the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, is leading the research. He is using nanotechnology to alter the structure of the Hydrisafe Tank, which is a new design under development by Hydrogen Horizons, a Scottish-registered start-up company.
EADS IW and Prof Gregory’s team are seeking funding from the European Union to build a European-wide team of academic and industrial partners to examine the wider issues relating to using hydrogen on an industrial scale to power aeroplane and car engines.