Institute of High Pressure Physics

Currently, about 80% of the energy consumed in the world comes from fossil fuels: gas, oil and coal. Both climate issues and limited natural resources motivate the effort toward the development of alternative and green energy sources. The disadvantage of most renewable energy sources is uneven operation, causing a need to store increasing amounts of energy.  Hydrogen has the potential to account for more than 10% of total energy by 2050, both as a store of renewable energy and as a source of energy, if hydrogen can be extracted from underground sources. The product of burning hydrogen is only water, unlike fossil fuels, which generate carbon dioxide and other harmful gases when burned.

Undoubtedly, a major challenge on the road to efficient use of hydrogen is its storage. In gaseous form, hydrogen has an extremely low density. Its cubic meter weighs a mere 84 grams, which naturally means that its transportation and storage would be inefficient and thus far more costly than the liquid fuels currently in use. Therefore, various methods of storing hydrogen are being worked on.  Depending on the application, these will include technologies using high-pressure hydrogen tanks, storage in liquefied form (which unfortunately requires cooling to extremely low temperatures of -253°C), as well as storage by absorption in metal hydrides or materials with developed surfaces, which are being worked on by a number of research groups around the world.

In response to this problem, a team of scientists and engineers from the Institute of High Pressure Polish Academy of Sciences (IHPP PAS) has developed a high-pressure double-walled hydrogen storage tank, which parameters exceed the currently used designs.

The solution was recognized by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) and the National Research and Development Center (NCBiR) in the XXV edition of the "Polish Product of the Future" competition. IHPP PAS received the main prize in the category of Polish Product of the Future of the Institutions of Higher Education and Science for the project "Safe hybrid (double-walled) hydrogen storage tank of high density stored energy with continuous pressure monitoring". The tanks developed at IHPP PAS can be successfully installed in cars or mobile hydrogen storage units, as well as prove themselves in stationary applications, i.e., for example, as storage tanks for solar energy produced by photovoltaic installations, where it is obtained by electrolysis of water.

(Fot. Karol Stanczak)

Wczoraj odbyła się uroczysta gala XXV edycja konkursu Polski Produkt Przyszłości organizowanego przez PARP. Miło nam poinformować, że nagrodę główną w kategorii Polski Produkt Przyszłości Instytucji Szkolnictwa Wyższego i Nauki zdobył nasz Instytut (Laboratorium Nadprzewodników NL-6) za projekt Bezpieczny hybrydowy (dwupłaszczowy) zasobnik wodoru o wysokiej gęstości zmagazynowanej energii z ciągłym monitorowaniem szczelności. Szczegóły wkrótce.

What kind of "sandwiches" does terahertz radiation like? What are its advantages over X-rays? What problems can be solved with ​​terahertz technologies? Prof. Wojciech Knap, an outstanding Polish scientist from the Institute of High Pressure Physics #unipress, leading CENTERA (NL-11) laboratories, talks about the research carried out by his team within the International Research Agenda Program of the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP).

The link to the Polityka "Science for innovation" podcast about the „Strength of the terahertz radiation” is here (conversation is in Polish).