By Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
PNNL has long held a position of leadership in chemical energy storage. PNNL’s expertise in chemical storage research and development supports the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, the Bioenergy Technologies Office, and the Office of Fossil Energy. Our capabilities have contributed to the development of hydrogen production technologies, catalysis for hydrogen production and fuel cells, storage infrastructure, and materials development and characterization, including component postmortem analysis and safety. For hydrogen storage, PNNL is involved in accelerated materials discovery and development, including ceramics, polymers and polymer composites, and catalysts needed to create production systems and storage devices for the chemicals that will store energy in their bonds. Distinctive facilities at PNNL are designed to synthesize these materials and scale-up systems for testing. Additionally, PNNL is at the cutting edge of chemical energy storage in molecules other than hydrogen such as formic acid, ammonia, methanol, ethanol, and other organics. Advanced characterization capabilities tell researchers how the materials will hold up under severe operating conditions. PNNL conducts performance assessment and validation of the systems under simulated service conditions down to the component level.
