GASTEF - the JRC-IE Compressed Hydrogen Gas Tanks Testing Facility

Storage of gases under pressure, including hydrogen, is a well-known technique. However the use of hydrogen tanks in vehicles, and in particular the challenge of using very high pressures, requires new safety and performance studies. The JRC-IE has developed a facility, GasTeF, for carrying out tests on full-scale high pressure vehicle's tanks for hydrogen or natural gas, but the testing of any other high-pressure components such as valves and pipes is also possible. GasTeF consists on a half-buried concrete bunker with annexed gas storage area. A high-pressure compressor and its controlling equipment and instrumentation as well as the pressure vessel containing the components to be tested are placed inside the bunker, which during tests is inertised using gaseous nitrogen: The facility is remotely controlled and its operation automatised. Typical tests performed in both type 3 and 4 cylinders are: - Fast-filling cycling, in which storage tanks are fast filled and slowly emptied using hydrogen pressurised up to 70 MPa, for at least 1000 times to simulate their lifetime in a road vehicle. During the cycling process the tank is monitored for leaks and permeation rates using gas chromatography. - Static permeation measurements as a function of time on tanks filled up to 70 MPa and temperatures to at least 85 °C. The results will be applied to validate existing and future standards and used as input to pre-normative research for the development and improvement of performance characterisation methodologies for hydrogen storage.JRC.DDG.F.2-Cleaner energ