By Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
PNNL is developing a novel approach using materials with a magnetocaloric property to cool and liquefy hydrogen gas. When a magnetocaloric material is removed from a strong magnetic field, it cools rapidly. PNNL researchers are exploiting this effect to make a new cryogenic cooling system that is twice as efficient as current technologies and has similar or even lower capital costs. PNNL research could reduce the energy, and therefore the cost, required for liquefaction by 50%.
