News

University of Denmark Scientists Develop Hydrogen Tablet

September 19, 2005 by Jeff Shepard

An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have developed a hydrogen tablet that stores hydrogen in an inexpensive and safe material, enabling storage and transport of hydrogen in solid form. Hydrogen is a non-polluting fuel, but since it is a light gas, it occupies too much volume and it is flammable. Consequently, effective and safe storage of hydrogen has challenged researchers worldwide for almost three decades.

The hydrogen tablet is safe and inexpensive. It is different from most other hydrogen storage technologies in that the hydrogen material can literally be carried in a pocket without any kind of safety precaution. The tablet consists solely of ammonia absorbed in sea salt. Ammonia is produced by a combination of hydrogen with nitrogen from the surrounding air, and the DTU tablet contains large amounts of hydrogen. Within the tablet, hydrogen is stored as long as desired, and when hydrogen is needed, ammonia is released through a catalyst that decomposes it back to free hydrogen. When the tablet is empty, you merely give it a "shot" of ammonia and it is ready for use again.

Together with DTU and SeeD Capital Denmark, the researchers have founded Amminex A/S, which will focus on the further development and commercialization of the technology.