European graphene alliance for sustainable multifunctional materials – a case study of a hydrogen storage tanks

The Europe GIANCE Project, Graphene Alliance for Sustainable Multifunctional Materials to
Tackle Environmental Challenges [1], aims to demonstrate and validate the effectiveness of
graphene and related materials (GRM)-enabled products through 11 use cases (UCs) from 4
different sectors, including automotive, aerospace, energy, and water treatment. The project
is part of the Graphene Flagship, a European research and innovation initiative, focusing on
taking graphene and related 2D materials from academic labs to industrial applications. The
project’s consortium comprises 23 partners from 10 European countries, involving graphene
producers, large industries, research and education organizations, and small and mediumsized
enterprises. From an early stage, life cycle assessments activities support the
development of the UCs with information about the environmental aspects of the UC’s state
of the art in comparison to the GIANCE intended technology. As a case study, one of the 11
UCs was the development and preparation of the GIANCE 2D materials to be applied in H2
storage for substitution of more traditional high-pressure methods. The current technology
is designed for physical storage in high pressure tank cylinders, which can be type 1
(steel/aluminium tanks) to type 4 (carbon fibre reinforced polymer). The innovative tanks
were redesigned with expanded graphene oxide dopped into titanium manganese for
physical and chemical storage with adsorbent material foam inside of a “lower” pressure
tank. The optimized new tank design with GRM increases toughness and volumetric
hydrogen density, increasing the H2 storage volume and reducing the pressure needed,
increasing safety and reducing energy loss during tank filling. These improvements affect
the environmental impact on resource efficiency due to the increase of the volume storage
per unit and less loss of H2, demonstrating the commitment with environmentally friendly
applications of 2D materials.