Modelling of a hydrogen thermally driven compressor based on cyclic adsorption-desorption on activated carbon

Thermally driven hydrogen compression by cyclic hydrogen adsorption-desorption on activated carbon is presented therein. Hydrogen compression occurs through heat exchange, which allows physisorbed hydrogen to desorb at higher temperature in a given volume. The physical nature of hydrogen adsorption on porous carbon allows reversible desorption, and a flow of compressed hydrogen is then obtained by running adsorption/desorption cycles repeatedly. We investigated the feasibility of such a system through numerical simulations by taking into account both mass and energy balances, and adsorption thermodynamics. We showed that high-pressure hydrogen, up to 70 MPa, can be obtained by simply lowering and/or increasing the system temperature. Such a system opens new perspectives in the frame of the Hydrogen Supply Chain. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.