Clariant’s catalyst business has formed an alliance with German cleantech company Hydrogenious Technologies to offer a safer and more efficient method of transporting and storing hydrogen.

Because of fluctuating weather conditions, hydrogen sourced from renewable energy, such as wind and hydro power, requires large-scale storage to ensure a steady supply of electricity. But, hydrogen is difficult to transport and store because of its very low density, high flammability and extreme volatility.

To address this challenge, Hydrogenious Technologies has developed a means of transporting hydrogen by chemically binding the molecules to liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC).  In this method, hydrogenation of the liquid organic hydrocarbon dibenzyltoluene via Clariant’s EleMax H catalyst allows hydrogen to be ‘stored’ and then dehydrogenation with EleMax D ‘releases’ the gas on demand.

The diesel-like hydrogen-bound compound is non-explosive, non-toxic and of low flammability and is therefore not classified as a hazardous compound. Clariant said the compound remains in useable and convenient liquid state through a broad temperature range of -39^oC TO 390 ^oC at ambient pressure. These factors, the Swiss company said, allow considerably easier installation at industrial locations as well as commercial and public fueling sites. In addition, it allows for the necessary handling flexibility to enable a widespread roll-out of hydrogen production from renewable energy.

Daniel Teichmann, CEO at Hydrogenious Technologies, said the collaboration was a further step toward its vision to make the much-discussed hydrogen economy a global reality.

Founded in 2013, Hydrogenious Technologies is a spin-off from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg