Chemical Hydrogen Gas Generator Based on Aluminum Alloy/Water Reaction

Hydrogen gas (H2) has many benefits as an alternative energy source for fossil fuels, including environmental and energy supply benefits. Hydrogen can be used to produce electricity in fuel cells and hydrogen internal combustion engines (hydrogen energy density: ~140 MJ/kg). Producing H2 at the point-of-need is especially attractive to mobile Military operations. The cost of JP-8 when fully burdened was $400-$1,000 per gallon in war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, mostly due to the risk of transporting JP-8 through dangerous territory. There are several solids that can produce H2 when reacted with water and that have higher energy densities than traditional hydrocarbon based fuels and are safer to transport. One such material is a novel nanogalvanic aluminum alloy developed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) that has the highest volumetric energy density of any solid hydrogen fuel. However, equipment for safely generating hydrogen gas from fuels at the point-of-need does not exist. To realize the potential of solid hydrogen fuels, hazardous, non-transportable pressurized fuel tanks must be eliminated and replaced with an on-demand hydrogen generation capability at the point-of-need. In this project, TDA will develop a novel hydrogen generator for point-of-use hydrogen generation using ARL’s novel nanogalvanic aluminum alloy.