Increasing Hydrogen Storage Capacity Using Tetrahydrofuran

Abstract

Hydrogen hydrates with tetrahydrofuran (THF) as a promoter molecule are investigated to probe critical unresolved observations regarding cage occupancy and storage capacity. We adopted a new preparation method, mixing solid powdered THF with ice and pressurizing with hydrogen at 70 MPa and 255 +/- 2 K (these formation conditions are insufficient to form pure hydrogen hydrates). All results from Raman microprobe spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and gas volumetric analysis show a strong dependence of hydrogen storage capacity on THF composition. Contrary to numerous recent reports that claim it is impossible to store H(2) in large cages with promoters, this work shows that, below a THF mole fraction of 0.01, H(2) molecules can occupy the large cages of the THF+H(2) structure II hydrate. As a result, by manipulating the promoter THF content, the hydrogen storage capacity was increased to approximately 3.4 wt % in the THF+H(2) hydrate system. This study shows the tuning effect may be used and developed for future science and practical applications.

Influence of cationic and non-ionic surfactants on the kinetics of mixed hydrogen/tetrahydrofuran hydrates

“…There are several literature works on THF/hydrogen hydrates spanning thermodynamic, kinetic, molecular characterization and morphological observations (Nagai et al, 2008;Ogata et al, 2008;Strobel et al, 2009bStrobel et al, , 2009cSugahara et al, 2009;Veluswamy et al, 2014c). Florusse et al (2004) reported a drastic reduction in hydrogen hydrate forming pressures with the addition of THF as promoter at 5 MPa and 279.6 K. The highest storage capacity of 4.03 wt% was reported by Lee et al (2005) formed using 0.15 mol% THF at 12 MPa and 270 K. However, such a storage capacity could not be reproduced and demonstrated by other researchers.…”

Factors controlling hydrate film growth at water/oil interfaces

“…Large deposits of natural gas hydrates below the ocean floor and in permafrost regions are potential new energy resources Boswell, 2009). We may also benefit from a series of new technologies based on hydrates (Hu and Ruckenstein, 2006;Sun et al, 2007a;Tsouris et al, 2007;Nagai et al, 2008;Sugahara et al, 2009;Ricaurte et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2014). On the other hand, gas hydrates may lead to the plugging of equipment in the production and transportation of oil and gas ( Koh et al, 2011;Joshi et al, 2013).…”

Observation of Sintering of Clathrate Hydrates

“…If the H 2 storage capacity is improved up to that expected in pure H 2 hydrate, the utilization of clathrate hydrates becomes realistic as a future engineering technology [18]. In fact, the technique has been developed to increase the H 2 storage to 3.4 wt% in THF + H 2 hydrate [19].…”