Plug Power and WSU Partner in Hydrogen Cooling Technology

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG), hydrogen and fuel cell technology company has entered a partnership with Washington State University research labs. Together, they are working on developing hydrogen cooling technology, designed to improve the storage and transfer of hydrogen fuel.

As quoted in the press release:

The proposed sub-cooling solution will enable improvements to the transportation and storage of liquid hydrogen to fueling stations. It will allow Plug Power’s fleet vehicle customers, including material handling lift truck fleets, to achieve lower fuel costs due to lower back-end costs of transportation and storage. In the future, this innovation will improve the operational efficiency of GenFuel liquid hydrogen architecture, which is critical for the high-volume hydrogen fueling needed to support the burgeoning on-road fuel cell electric vehicle (FCV) market.

The technology being developed allows compressed hydrogen to swirl in a vortex, where a catalytic reaction unique to hydrogen causes cooling at cryogenic temperatures. Optimizing the reaction to operate with supercritical hydrogen has the potential to reduce the cost and efficiency of small, distributed liquid hydrogen systems as well as aid in low boil-off and heat mitigation challenges relevant to Plug Power and its customers.

Click here to read the full press release.