Session: MF-02-01 Materials for Hydrogen Service-Polymers 1

Paper Number: 123049

123049 - Elastomeric Materials for Hydrogen Services 

Hydrogen currently plays a crucial function in our economy, not only as an industrial feedstock but as a versatile tool for decarbonization. A reliable and robust hydrogen infrastructure is key to widespread adoption and deployment of H2 technologies, and hydrogen materials compatibility is essential for such a H2 infrastructure. The vast expanse of the U.S.'s natural gas (NG) transmission and distribution lines, encompassing nearly three million miles, stands as a pivotal national asset primed for a transformative role in decarbonizing the American economy. Prevailing research indicates an H2 leakage rate at >1.5% is concerning on the existing NG infrastructure. Notably, a mere 0.1-0.2% of this leakage is attributed to direct permeation through pipelines. This highlights that the largest fraction of leakage is rooted in issues at valves, fittings, or connectors. Elastomeric materials play a critical role in preventing these components from leaking while conventional materials showed signs of premature failues in H2 environments according to recent studies. This presentation will discuss about the work conducted under the H-Mat program and the HyBlend Pipline CRADA project that focuses on elastomeric materials in understanding the effects of H2 gas interactions and exploring similitude between laboratory/computational studies and real-world applications to enable science-based decision-making for the design optimization of H2 technologies.

Presenting Author: Wenbin Kuang Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Kuang is a Materials Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He has a broad background in materials science and chemical engineering with a research focus on polymers and polymeric composites. Current area of his research covers fundamental studies of hydrogen compatibility of polymeric materials used in the hydrogen infrastructure, tribological studies of polymeric materials in extreme conditions, understanding the effects of surface modification on joining of dissimilar materials, and malleable composite materials for lightweight composites. His technical skills include, but are not limited to, design of experiments, polymer processing, polymer testing and characterization, data analysis and interpretation, reporting and documentation.

Authors:

Wenbin Kuang Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Kevin Simmons Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Seunghyun Ko Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Ethan Nickerson Pacific Northwest National Laboratory