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Review of the current technologies and performances of
hydrogen compression for stationary and automotive
applications
Giuseppe Sdanghi, Gaël Maranzana, Alain Celzard, Vanessa Fierro
To cite this version:
Giuseppe Sdanghi, Gaël Maranzana, Alain Celzard, Vanessa Fierro. Review of the current technologies
and performances of hydrogen compression for stationary and automotive applications. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, 2019, 102, pp.150-170. �10.1016/j.rser.2018.11.028�. �hal-
02014572�
1
Review of the current technologies and
performances of hydrogen compression for
stationary and automotive applications
G. Sdanghi
1,2
, G. Maranzana
2
, A. Celzard
1
, V. Fierro
1
*
1
Institut Jean Lamour, UMR CNRS-Université de Lorraine n°7198, ENSTIB, 27 rue
Philippe Seguin, BP 21042 - 88051 EPINAL Cedex 9, France
2
Laboratoire d'Energétique et de Mécanique Théorique et Appliquée, UMR CNRS-
Université de Lorraine n° 7563, 2 avenue de la Forêt de Haye, BP 160, F-54504
Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France
*
Corresponding author. Tel: + 33 329 29 61 77. Fax: + 33 329 29 61 38. E-mail address :
Vanessa.Fierro@univ-lorraine.fr (V. Fierro)
2
Abstract
Hydrogen could play an important role as energy vector in the next decades in the frame of
the Sustainable Development. It is the most abundant element of the universe, and virtually
available everywhere, thus being a never-ending source of energy. Hydrogen can be directly
converted into electric energy by using fuel cells, without producing toxic gases. Moreover, it
can be produced by renewable sources such as biomass, solar and wind energies, thus having
no impact on the environment. However, even if hydrogen offers a promising eco-friendly
solution for the energy transition, in order to foreseen its wide use in both stationary and
automotive applications, several issues related to its storage and delivery have to be solved.
Indeed, hydrogen has lowest volumetric energy density among the commonly used fuels, i.e.,
0.01079 MJ/L at atmospheric pressure. Compression is the direct solution to overcome this
barrier. High pressures can indeed give satisfying energy densities. The present review
summarises the state of the art of the most classical hydrogen compression technologies. The
technical and design features of mechanical compressors, i.e., reciprocating, diaphragm, linear
and ionic liquid compressors, as well as of innovative non-mechanical technologies
specifically conceived for hydrogen applications, such as cryogenic, metal hydride,
electrochemical and adsorption compressors, are presented. The basic operating principles
and the performances potentially achievable for each compression technology are analysed.
Specifically, their current uses in hydrogen applications, as well as their technological limits,
are described outlining the possible actions to be taken for improving their performances.
Keywords: Hydrogen compression; Mechanical compressors; Cryogenic compressors; Metal
hydride compressors; Electrochemical compressors; Adsorption compressors.
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1. Introduction
The growing global energy demand, as well as the increasing concerns about
environmental pollution, has made hydrogen a realistic alternative to the traditional fossil
fuels. The world energy consumption is indeed expected to double over the next half century,
so significant changes in producing, distributing, storing and using energy are necessary (1).
Hydrogen can be the ideal solution to all these issues. Hydrogen is the most abundant element
in the universe, thus being a never-ending and renewable source of energy. Furthermore,
hydrogen can be produced from renewable and sustainable resources, thus offering a
promising eco-friendly solution for the energy transition expected in the next decades.
Hydrogen production from water by electrolysis is nowadays considered the main sustainable
alternative to hydrogen synthesis from fossil fuels (2). Hydrogen production from biomass has
shown to be a cost effective solution as well, both by using supercritical water gasification (3)
and fermentative processes (4). Solar energy is also another sustainable and environmentally
friendly way to produce hydrogen (5,6). Hydrogen exhibits the largest gravimetric energy
density among non-nuclear fuels, and can be easily converted into thermal, mechanical and
electrical energy (7). Its use in both stationary and automotive applications, such as fuel cells,
offers a promising way to use electrical and thermal energies without impact on the
environment, opening a new scenario in the use of sustainable energy all over the world (7–
10).
Despite such advantages, two main issues prevent the generalised use of hydrogen as an
efficient fuel, and with this, the energy transition towards a compelling fossil-free solution.
Firstly, hydrogen is an energy vector, and this means that it is necessary to produce it before
use, so energy is needed to synthesise hydrogen (11). Secondly, hydrogen exhibits the lowest
volumetric energy density among the commonly used fuels, 0.01079 MJ/L at standard
temperature and pressure (12), much lower than that of gasoline, 34 MJ/L (13). In order to
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increase this value, several methods have been developed: (i) compression in gas cylinders;
(ii) liquefaction in cryogenic tanks; (iii) storage in metal hydride alloys; (iv) adsorption onto
large specific surface area-materials and (v) chemical storage in covalent and ionic
compounds (formic acid, borohydrure, ammonia..) (14). Among them, compression of
hydrogen is the most widespread method to store hydrogen, even if it is not the cheapest one
(15). Gaseous hydrogen at high pressures is particularly used in the frame of the Haber
process for ammonia production, as well as to carry out hydro-cracking of heavy petroleum
fractions in order to produce lighter hydrocarbons (16).
During the last years, a significant attention has been paid to the efficient use of hydrogen
in automotive applications (17,18). Moreover, a “Hydrogen Economy” is often advocated as a
potential way to deliver sustainable energy through the use of hydrogen (19). In this context,
after being produced and before using it, hydrogen is packaged, distributed, stored and
delivered, the most complex issues to solve related especially to the latter two steps (20). It
has been shown that the cheapest hydrogen storage-delivery mode is obtained by compression
and delivery with a truck, especially for small stations and low demands (21). For this reason,
efforts have been carried out in order to improve compression solutions for hydrogen storage.
It has been also shown that the introduction of new and sophisticated materials, like carbon
fibre- and glass fibre-reinforced tanks, allowed a significant reduction of the storing system
weight, increasing in turn the hydrogen volumetric energy density (22). Commercial vessels
available nowadays achieve an average hydrogen content of 1-2 wt.% at pressures of about
20-25 MPa (23), but composite pressure tanks up to 70 MPa have also been successfully
developed, reaching a gravimetric storage density of 6 wt. % and a volumetric storage density
of 30 g/L (24). These values still don’t meet the two U.S. Department of Energy targets,
which set the ideal gravimetric and volumetric capacity for hydrogen automotive systems to
40 g/L v/v and 5.5 wt.% for 2017 (25,26), respectively, to be achieved in the temperature
