Supercritical cryo-compressed hydrogen storage for fuel cell electric buses

Abstract Liquid hydrogen (LH 2 ) truck delivery and storage at dispensing sites is likely to play an important role in an emerging H 2 infrastructure. We analyzed the performance of single phase, supercritical, on-board cryo-compressed hydrogen storage (CcH 2 ) with commercially-available LH 2 pump enabled single-flow refueling for application to fuel cell electric buses (FCEB). We conducted finite-element stress analyses of Type 3 CcH 2 tanks using ABAQUS for carbon fiber requirement and Fe-Safe for fatigue life. The results from these analyses indicate that, from the standpoint of weight, volume and cost, 2-mm 316 stainless steel liner is preferred to aluminium 6061 alloy in meeting the required 15,000 charge-discharge cycles for 350–700 bar storage pressures. Compared to the Type 3, 350 bar, ambient-temperature H 2 storage systems in current demonstration FCEBs, 500-bar CcH 2 storage system is projected to achieve 91% improvement in gravimetric capacity, 175% improvement in volumetric capacity, 46% reduction in carbon fiber composite mass, and 21% lower system cost, while exceeding >7 day loss-free dormancy with initially 85%-full H 2 tank.