Economic potential of complex hydrides compared to conventional hydrogen storage systems

Novel developments of materials for solid hydrogen storage show promising prospects. Complex hydrides exhibit great technical potential to store hydrogen in an efficient and safe way. Nevertheless, so far an evaluation of economic competitiveness is still lacking. In this work, an assessment about the economic feasibility of implementing complex hydrides as hydrogen storage materials is presented. The cost structure of hydrogen storage systems based on NaAlH4 and LiBH4/MgH2 is discussed and compared with the conventional high pressure (700 bar) and liquid storage systems. The vessel construction for the complex hydride systems is much simpler than for the alternative conventional methods because of the milder pressure and temperature conditions during the storage process. According to the economical analysis, this represents the main cost advantage of the complex hydride systems.

► We model the refuelling cost of a mobile hydrogen application. ► Thereby we consider different applications by varying the hydrogen capacity. ► We compare conventional high pressure and liquid with solid state storage systems. ► Economically solid state systems benefit from much simpler vessel constructions. ► For an NaAlH4 storage system this advantage is independent from the storage capacity.