Hydrogen storage has always been a challenge. Technical means to store it at low temperature or high pressure are essential. A look back at the little-known history of hydrogen storage technologies.
It is during the Second World War that this story begins. At that time, the US military stored helium in metal tubes. This gas is used in particular for observation balloons. The most abundant source of helium is in northern Texas, in the city of Amarillo. Gas transport is carried out by steel tubes. Five to six centimeters thick, with a pressure of less than 100 bars, these tubes are so heavy that they have to be transported by train. At the end of the war, the deposit was taken over by a local company which used stronger, but thinner and lighter tubes, transported by trucks. The hydrogen molecule being reductive, it can attack metals. The tubes are then modified and made of even stronger, but heavier, alloys. They are used to transport compressed hydrogen to factories specializing in petrochemicals (manufacture of unleaded gasoline) or fine chemicals (for cosmetics, for example).
The evolution of storage tubes took a leap in the 1970s. This story also began in the United States. The conquest of space requires gas and oxygen. However, steel and aluminum bottles are too heavy. Then appears the so-called type 4 bottle made of plastic and reinforced with fiberglass. The production plant is located in Nebraska, in Lincoln (later purchased by the Norwegian Hexagon). It manufactures type 4 storage bottles for the military and civil industries.
Starting in the 2000s, Hexagon produced Type 4 tubes for ships responsible for planting pipes in the seabed for oil platforms. In order to limit wave movement and make ships more stable, type 4 gas cylinders are used. These one meter diameter tubes measure 12 to 15 meters long and have a very large storage capacity. A thousand kilos of hydrogen can thus be transported by truck. Today, this type of very high-tech composite tube makes it possible to obtain the best combination for the transport of hydrogen, with lightness, safety, efficiency and durability.
