Green hydrogen is cleaner than traditional energy. The Dutch government stimulates the production of hydrogen with a subsidy of over €800 million. But how can we store that hydrogen and use it again later? It is estimated that in the future, the Dutch central hydrogen pipeline network can only provide 30 percent of our nation’s total hydrogen demand. Energy storage and transportation is one of the major challenges of the energy transition. Traditional batteries have a limited storage capacity. The students of team SOLID believe they found a solution.

Iron for energy storage

‘Hydrogen can be stored by making it react with iron oxide, also known as rust. This forms iron and water, with the iron functioning as a medium for storage. In order to produce hydrogen, iron reacts with steam to form hydrogen and iron oxide. This creates a cycle in which iron functions as a sustainable hydrogen battery,’ it says in team SOLID’s press release. Max Winkel, team manager at SOLID: “This allows us to store and transport hydrogen in a compact way. Because of its high energy density, iron is capable of storing up to three times more hydrogen per volume than hydrogen under high pressure (700 bar), which is the most commonly used form of storage today.”

Continued development

After SIR One, the team plans to develop SIR Two, which will have a storage capacity fifteen times larger than its predecessor. SIR Two, in turn, needs to function as the basis of SIR Three: a demo-setup in the port of Rotterdam, where it can demonstrate the technology at an industrial level. The students hope to accomplish this by 2027.