The ONTZHI project is working on developing new materials for storing and transporting hydrogen gas and new methods for characterising the interaction of hydrogen with storage and transport infrastructure materials.
The GAIKER Technology Centre, a member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance (BRTA), is participating in the “Key technologies for storing and transporting hydrogen, ONTZHI” project, the aim of which is to research technologies and solutions for storing and transporting hydrogen that are safer, more compact, cost-effective and sustainable.
The European Union aims to achieve a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2023 and emission neutrality by 2050. The use of green hydrogen could be a solution, as it is a 100% clean energy source, which is energy efficient, produces no gases and the only waste it generates is water. But this requires safe, cost-effective storage and transportation on a large scale to ensure its economic competitiveness.
Hydrogen can currently be stored and transported as a gas under pressure in tanks and pipelines or as a liquid in cryogenic tanks, but due to its physico-chemical properties, which are quite different from those of other fuels, developing these technologies is difficult and advances in research are needed to develop infrastructures to make it possible to transport and store it.
In order to respond to this situation, the ONTZHI project, which is financed by the Basque Government (ELKARTEK programme), was launched in 2023, in an attempt to find solutions for storing and transporting hydrogen, by developing new materials and strategies to protect materials from the degrading effect of hydrogen.
This project aims to improve the strength of the materials used to make tanks and pipes, reduce weight and cost, increase the safety and sustainability of storage and transport systems, and research and create knowledge on the limits of metallic materials in their interaction with hydrogen. As a result, two laboratory-scale demonstrators will be developed, one for hydrogen barrier coatings and the other for a Type IV H2 storage tank based on recyclable polymers, as well as a computational model that will be used to define and develop simplified characterisation methods.
GAIKER focuses its activity mainly on providing solutions for mobility tanks. It is working on designing and researching polymerisable thermoplastic materials on site with hydrogen barrier properties, for producing liners by rotational moulding and casings by filament winding for type IV hydrogen tanks, and designing and researching thermoplastic composites in tape format for producing casings with robotic tape winding technology.
ONTZHI aims to improve the scientific, technological and commercial positioning of the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network (RVCTi by its Spanish acronym) and Basque companies in the hydrogen sector, particularly green hydrogen transport and storage technologies.
The project is subsidised by the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment of the Basque Government (ELKARTEK 2023 Programme).
