Ball-and-stick model of the unit cell of magnesium hydride, MgH2. X-ray crystallographic data from W. H. Zachariasen, C. E. Holley and J. F. Stamper Jnr (May 1963)

Ball-and-stick model of the unit cell of magnesium hydride, MgH2. X-ray crystallographic data from W. H. Zachariasen, C. E. Holley and J. F. Stamper Jnr (May 1963)

 
HydrilyteTM is safe for people and safe for the environment

HydrilyteTM enables zero carbon electricity
 

What is HydrilyteTM ?

The Hydrilyte™ is a magnesium dust suspended in a light mineral oil.

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Magnesium Hydride

Dust particles viewed under a scanning electron microscope

 

Solid state hydrogen storage

In the presence of hydrogen, magnesium (Mg) bonds to form magnesium hydride (MgH2).

Fun facts

  • It can be charged and discharged thousands of times

  • Unlike a battery, efficiency improves over time.

  • Magnesium is the 8th most abundant element on earth and the 3rd most abundant in seawater.

 

A liquid battery

To make it safe to handle and store, the magnesium dust is suspended in a light mineral (baby oil without the perfume).

This has other benefits:

  • Heat transfer is improved (it works faster and is easier to control)

  • Like a liquid fuel it can be pumped through the charging system, so the energy is as big as the storage tank. This is how it can scale to any size.

  • It can be transported in ships and trucks that today carry oil and which will become available as hydrogen displaces oil in the energy market.

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Hydrilyte™

Flows easily at 50/50 dilution with mineral oil

 

The Hydrilyte™ Process

The Hydrilyte™ Hydrogen Storage Process - unlike batteries Hydrilyte™ efficiency improves with age

The Hydrilyte™ Hydrogen Storage Process - unlike batteries Hydrilyte™ efficiency improves with age

 

Hydrogen Storage technologies

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There are so many options!

But there is no silver bullet. In the same way we can’t say that gas is better than oil - because it depends on what you want to use it for - so it is with hydrogen.

Hydrilyte™ is best for firming renewable energy (like wind and solar).

Hydrilyte™ is the most flexible renewable energy storage solution because it can work well at small, kilowatt hour (kWh) scale and at massive terawatt hour (TWh) scale.

Comparative strengths

  • Safe for people and the environment. (Unlike ammonia, compressed hydrogen, liquid hydrogen and toluene)

  • Can be stored and transported using infrastructure, that will become available as hydrogen displaces liquid fuels (unlike all of the others)

  • The input materials are cheap and plentiful which makes the cost of storage per kg of hydrogen cheap (unlike compressed hydrogen)

  • The energy inputs to charge, store and discharge hydrogen are low (unlike ammonia and liquid hydrogen)

  • There are no additional cycle costs - the Hydrilyte™ switches between Mg and MgH2 and back to Mg without additional energy or expensive catalysts (unlike Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers and sodium borohydride).

  • The energy conversion efficiency is good and has the potential to be best in class

  • Works well with the intermittent renewable power (unlike ammonia and technologies with catalysts)

  • Works well at all scales (unlike ammonia, MOFs and liquid hydrogen) this is important as electricity grids transition towards networked microgrids.