As part of the symposium organised by Plastic Omnium and MIT in Paris today, an American start-up gave a presentation. Its solution is to transport hydrogen in the form of containers, using aluminium in the process.

Found Energy, founded by former NASA scientist Peter Godart, has developed a process based on the corrosion of aluminium scrap in contact with water. The result is high-purity water and hydrogen. Aluminium is both an abundant and light resource. Its energy density is 10 times greater than that of liquid hydrogen,” says the website.

Another advantage of the process is that the aluminium hydroxide produced by the chemical reaction can be used for other applications (cement, pharmaceutical industry).

The American start-up believes that this method of solid hydrogen storage based on aluminium waste would make it possible to decarbonise heavy mobility more effectively. Its demonstrator is 50 kW. But the aim is to offer containers capable of delivering between 1 and 10 MW. During his pitch, Peter Godart said he was looking for partners. His first pilot project will be in Germany, but he remains open to other experiments, particularly in France.

Do you want to find out more about hydrogen transport and hydrogen? Then our latest 2 articles on these subjects should be of interest to you. You can read about hydrogen transport here and about aluminium right there. 

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Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King