Chairholders
Profile
Richard Chahine
Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
Chair title
NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Hydrogen Purification, Transport and Storage
Chair program
Industrial Research Chairs program
Role
Senior Chairholder since 2002
Summary
Canada is the largest per capita producer and user of hydrogen. It produces 200,000 tons of hydrogen every year as a by-product of industrial processes, corresponding to 800 million litres of gasoline. This amount could fuel one million fuel cell vehicles, and meet the short-term needs of the emerging fuel cell market.
During the last six years, we have advanced the technology for cryosorptive storage through the synthesis and characterization of nanoporous adsorbents, and through thermodynamic modeling. We are now looking to design materials whose capacity to adsorb hydrogen exceeds the limits of "Chahine's rule." We are also interested in related storage applications, such as the purification and distribution of hydrogen. Our research program includes fundamental and applied aspects, including:
- Studying the physicochemical phenomenon related to adsorption of gas mixtures;
- High throughput screening by computational techniques, synthesis of the screened potential candidates, characterization of their properties, and experimental validation;
- Development of models to optimize the design of systems based on these materials;
- System engineering and validation; and
- Techno economic assessment of adsorptive systems for hydrogen distribution and delivery.
The main novelty of our approach is to exploit the potential of the new generation of nanoporous materials to deal with impurities that could be detrimental to fuel cells. These adsorbents could also be useful for catalytic support and CO2capture. The main challenges are to reduce costs and optimize their storage density.
Partner
- Air Liquide Canada
Contact information
Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
Hydrogen Research Institute
3351 des Forges Blvd P.O. Box 500
Trois-Rivières, Québec
G9A 5H7
Tel.: 819-376-5011, ext. 3588
Fax: 819-376-5164
Email: richard.chahine@uqtr.ca
Website:
https://www.irh.ca/
