Hydrogen storage by adsorption on activated carbon: Investigation of the thermal effects during the charging process

This paper presents an investigation of the thermal effects during high-pressure charging of a packed bed hydrogen storage tank. The studied column is packed with activated IRH3 carbon, which has an average surface area of 2600 m(2) g(-1) and is fed with hydrogen or helium from an external high-pressure source. The temperature at six locations in the storage tank and the pressure value at the bottom of the tank are recorded during the charging stage. Several experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of the initial flow rate on the temperature field in the reservoir and on the duration of the charging process. A study of the respective contribution of adsorption and mechanical dissipation effects to the thermal phenomena is done in the case of hydrogen. Experimental results are compared to those obtained with the commercial code Fluent. A fair agreement is found when comparing typical pressure and temperature evolutions during the tank filling. (C) 2006 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.