TU/e students use little iron balls to safely store and transport hydrogen
2 june 2023 – TU/e student team SOLID has developed an alternative technique that enables the safe storage and transport of hydrogen (specifically; the energy from hydrogen). In this process, small iron balls are used as energy carriers. The students have built a test setup, the so-called Steam Iron Reactor One (SIR One), which will be used for testing in the near future. The team’s ambition is to scale up the system in the coming years and realize a demo in the port of Rotterdam in 2027.
The system works as follows; the energy of hydrogen is stored via a reaction with iron oxide (‘rust’), producing iron and water. In the process, the iron serves as a storage medium that can be easily transported. Then, to provide hydrogen, iron must be brought into contact with steam, after which hydrogen and iron oxide remain. This creates a cycle in which iron acts as a kind of sustainable ‘hydrogen battery’, with the note that it is not hydrogen but iron that is stored and transported.
SOLID hopes to build a demo in the port of Rotterdam by 2027.
The test setup SIR One from SOLID. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke
