Taylor-Wharton and GenH2 have announced plans to integrate their respective liquid hydrogen bulk storage and transfer technologies which they claim could ‘eliminate’ boil-off losses during transfer, storage and dispensing.
Under the partnership, the Air Water America subsidiary will integrate GenH2’s controlled storage technology into its liquid hydrogen bulk storage tanks.
Liquid hydrogen is often considered one of the most effective ways to transport hydrogen due to its higher energy density compared to compressed hydrogen. Boil-off occurs when liquid hydrogen warms above -253ºC and reverts to gas.
While the companies emphasise boil-off as a key adoption barrier, wider discussion suggests that infrastructure investment and production costs play a far greater role.
The companies state that hydrogen refuelling operations experience 20-40% losses due to boil-off. However, industry data shows that such large-scale losses apply to the energy consumption of liquefaction, not boil-off itself – where losses in well-insulated systems are typically just 0.1-5% per day.
Nonetheless, GenH2 CEO, Greg Gosnell, stated, “Hydrogen has immense potential, but you can’t lose 20-40% of your product and expect to be cost competitive.”
He added that they expect the firm’s technology, which uses cryogenic refrigeration and heat removal, to become “the new standard” for renewable energy systems.
Taylor-Wharton Chairman & CEO, Eric Rottier, claimed, “Our joint solution will revolutionise liquid hydrogen storage and will provide our customers with the most cutting-edge equipment for hydrogen storage and fuelling.”
H2 View has contacted the companies for clarification on the 20-40% loss figure.
While reducing boil-off losses is an important step in improving liquid hydrogen infrastructure, eliminating them altogether is extremely ambitious.
Storage and transport costs are key drivers of hydrogen’s high pump prices in mobility applications. Research by Harvard scientists said the average pump price of grey hydrogen in California was 10 times greater than production costs alone due to storage and infrastructure needs.
Read more:Storage and distribution make green hydrogen ‘prohibitively expensive’: study
Ultimately, while innovations in cryogenic storage could improve hydrogen logistics, tackling the broader issues of production scale, cost, and infrastructure investment will determine whether hydrogen becomes a viable global fuel – not just boil-off losses.
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