DIGITAL TWIN OF A COLD-ADSORBED HYDROGEN TANK BY ACTIVATED CARBONS AND METAL ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS
Hydrogen has the potential to be an important source of clean energy, but the development of efficient and cost-effective methods for storing hydrogen is a key challenge that needs to be addressed in order to make widespread use of hydrogen as an energy source possible. There are different methods for storing hydrogen (i.e. compressed it at high pressures, liquefied by cooling the hydrogen to a temperature of -253°C and stored with a chemical compound), each with its own advantages and disadvantages. MAST3RBoost (Maturing the Production Standards of Ultraporous Structures for High Density Hydrogen Storage Bank Operating on Swinging Temperatures and Low Compression) is a European project which aims to provide a solid benchmark of cold-adsorbed H2 storage (CAH2) at low compression (100 bar or below) by maturation of a new generation of ultraporous materials for mobility applications, i.e., H2-powered vehicles, including road and railway, air-borne and waterborne transportation. Based on a new generation of Machine Learning-improved ultraporous materials – such as Activated Carbons (ACs) and high-density MOFs (Metal-organic Frameworks) –, MAST3RBoost project will enable a disruptive path to meet the industry goals by developing the first worldwide adsorption-based demonstrator at the kg-scale. The design of the tank is supported by numerical investigation by means of the use of COMSOL Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) code. The model was validated by comparing it against experimental data from Test n. 20 [1], [2], [4], as well as numerical results obtained from the filling process of a 2.5 l tank with activated carbon [3]. A modified Dubinine-Astakhov (MDA) adsorption model is used to describe the adsorption isotherm for MOF and Activated Carbon (AC); the characterization of MOF and AC from simulation point of view is defined by three main MDA parameters: alpha, beta and n_max. In this work a Digital Twin has been developed by the COMSOL Application Builder focused on the effect of different MOF or AC properties on Hydrogen adsorption and temperature inside the tank.
