Efforts to create a “hydrogen economy” to reduce U.S. oil imports will get a boost from a new laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology that will evaluate tests, materials, mechanical properties and standards for hydrogen pipelines.
Construction is just beginning on the 750-square-foot laboratory on the site of a former hydrogen test facility at the NIST campus in Boulder, Colo. The laboratory—including a control room in a separate, existing building—is expected to be operational by mid-2008.
Widely used in industrial processing, hydrogen is attractive as a fuel because it burns cleanly without carbon emissions and can be derived from domestic sources. But long-term exposure to hydrogen can embrittle existing pipelines, increasing the potential for dangerous failures. NIST researchers will use the hydrogen laboratory to develop long-term service tests and apply them to study pipeline materials and mechanical effects. NIST is coordinating its research and safety plans with other national laboratories and industry groups working with hydrogen.
Experiments will involve immersing pipeline materials in pressurized hydrogen gas contained in steel alloy test chambers. The largest of these—about the size of a small automobile gas tank—will be the nation’s biggest hydrogen test chamber. Studies will be conducted using hydraulic machines to test mechanical fatigue, large frames for applying pressure to pipeline materials and equipment for testing properties such as tensile and residual strength and fracture toughness.
Tom Siewert, the NIST metallurgist who will manage the new laboratory, says the initial research will involve collecting fatigue and fracture data for existing pipelines as a baseline and conducting “round robin” exercises to assess the consistency of tests among various hydrogen laboratories. In the future, the focus will expand to new pipeline materials such as composites.
Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Related stories:
NIST building hydrogen pipeline laboratory
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology is constructing a new laboratory that's designed to test materials for hydrogen pipelines.
Candy-coating keeps proteins sweet
Sugar-frosting isn’t just for livening up boring bran flakes; it can also preserve important therapeutic proteins. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a fast, inexpensive and effective method for evaluating the sugars pharmaceutical companies use to stabilize protein-drugs for storage at room temperature. The group presented their findings at the 236th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition.
Oxygen Ions for Fuel Cells Get Loose at Low Temperatures
Seeking to understand a new fuel cell material, a research team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, has uncovered a novel structure that moves oxygen ions through the cell at substantially lower temperatures than previously thought possible. The finding announced this month in Nature Materials may be key to solving fuel cell reliability issues and lead to reduced operating costs in high-performance stationary fuel cells.
NIST/NIH micromagnets show promise as colorful 'smart tags' for magnetic resonance imaging
Colo.-Customized microscopic magnets that might one day be injected into the body could add color to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), while also potentially enhancing sensitivity and the amount of information provided by images, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) report. The new micromagnets also could act as "smart tags" identifying particular cells, tissues, or physiological conditions, for medical research or diagnostic purposes.
Improved Ion Mobility Is Key to New Hydrogen Storage Compound
A materials scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has deciphered the structure of a new class of materials that can store relatively large quantities of hydrogen within its crystal structure for later release. The new analysis may point to a practical hydrogen storage material for automobile fuel cells and similar applications.
High-Flying Electrons May Provide New Test of Quantum Theory
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Max Planck Institute for Physics in Germany believe they can achieve a significant increase in the accuracy of one of the fundamental constants of nature by boosting an electron to an orbit as far as possible from the atomic nucleus that binds it. The experiment, outlined in a new paper, would not only mean more accurate identifications of elements in everything from stars to environmental pollutants but also could put the modern theory of the atom to the most stringent tests yet.
Carbon Nanotube Measurements: Latest in NIST 'How-To' Series
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has published detailed guidelines for making essential measurements on samples of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The new guide constitutes the current “best practices” for characterizing one of the most promising and heavily studied of the new generation of nanoscale materials.
More Solid than Solid: A Potential Hydrogen-Storage Compound
One of the key engineering challenges to building a clean, efficient, hydrogen-powered car is how to design the fuel tank. Storing enough raw hydrogen for a reasonable driving range would require either impractically high pressures for gaseous hydrogen or extremely low temperatures for liquid hydrogen. In a new paper researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for Neutron Research have demonstrated that a novel class of materials could enable a practical hydrogen fuel tank.