Hydrogen Compressor and Dispensing Station

TF Design work in partnership with the Hydrogen Storage team at the South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry (SAIAMC) / University of the Western Cape to develop hardware related to hydrogen storage, hydrogen separation / purification and hydrogen compression technologies utilising metal hydrides (MH).
For this particular application a commercial size metal hydride hydrogen compressor and dispensing station was developed as a prototype plant to refuel a hydrogen fuel cell driven forklift. The project was implemented at Impala Platinum.
Hydrogen (available on site) is compressed from 50 bar to 200 bar and stored in a buffer system. A PLC controlled hydrogen dispensing system dispenses the hydrogen from the buffer system into the forklift hydrogen tank.
The Metal Hydride related hardware supplied by TF Design to SAIAMC combines new features in the design and operation with high quality and reliability. We note that a part of the MH systems are novel, both in South Africa and worldwide, and can be considered as joint developments of SAIAMC / UWC and TF Design. The corresponding developments were disclosed in one patent application and disseminated in 2 articles in high-impact international journal and 3 presentations at international conferences prepared by the SAIAMC team with co-authorship of TF Design engineers.