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France: Hydrogen Platform Inaugurated in Toulouse

By October 14, 2019 4   min read  (482 words)

October 14, 2019 |

Iaguration of Hydrogen Platform in Toulouse Main

Hydrogen is destined to be one of the major energy carriers of tomorrow, it offers a lot of hope to meet the challenge of global warming while increasing our energy autonomy.

The “Hydrogen Platform” developed in Toulouse is an experimental test platform that aims to study the potential of hydrogen technologies, namely: fuel cells, water electrolysers and more recently also technologies to control the combustion of hydrogen.

The PACAERO project, funded by the CPER 2015-2020 (State, Occitan Region, Toulouse Métropole) and the Call for Shared Platform Projects (Occitan Region, ERDF, Industrial, Equity), is coming to an end. On the one hand, it has allowed a large extension in terms of technical surfaces and test facilities starting from the initial platform developed by LAPLACE. On the other hand, it has made it possible to host on this platform new test facilities from other laboratories (LGC, IMFT, CIRIMAT) also working on hydrogen.

October 10, 2019: Inauguration of the Hydrogen Platform officially marking the scale it reached on that date in terms of size, resources and university partners at the end of the PACAERO project.

General scientific objectives of the platform:
The test resources deployed make it possible, in particular, to:
- Characterize the performance and aging of fuel cells (PEMFC1, SOFC2) and water electrolysers (PEMWE3, AWE4, SOWE5) at the scale of component (single cell, stack), [LAPLACE, LGC, CIRIMAT] - To characterize the performance and aging of porous media constituents of PEM-type components, [IMFT] to
- make prototypes of solid oxide components (SOFC, SOWE) of small powers, [CIRIMAT] - To test the integration of these technologies within electrical systems (intelligent micro-grids, hybridized systems …), [LAPLACE] - To study and develop technologies for the combustion of hydrogen, [IMFT].

1 Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (Low and High Temperature)
2 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (Intermediate and High Temperature)
3 Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyser
4 Aqueous Gold Alkaline Water Electrolyser
5 Solid Oxide Water Electrolyser

The platform in numbers:
4 laboratories with complementary skills :
- LAPLACE (Plasma laboratory and energy conversion) – manager of the
- LGC platform (Chemical Engineering Laboratory)
- IMFT (Institute of Fluid Mechanics of Toulouse)
- CIRIMAT (Inter-University Research Center and Materials Engineering)

650m2 of H2 experimental surfaces spread over 3 sites:
- Laplace – Toulouse INP campus (Toulouse-Labège) – 500 m²
- IMFT (Toulouse INP site – IMFT, Râmier Island) – 90 m²
- Laplace (Toulouse INP site – ENSEEIHT, Toulouse center) – 60 m² H2 + 100 m² smart micro-grids

9 million euros invested: it is estimated that 9 million euros were invested for the realization of the “Hydrogen Platform” of which almost 6 million euros were financed during the PACAERO project.

More than 30 test benches and other testing facilities.

Main test means:

  • Test benches for fuel cells
  • Test stands for water electrolysers
  • Test benches for porous media constituting fuel cells and water chlorinators
  • Prototyping workshop for fuel cells and SO electrolysers
  • Test bench for metal hydrides
  • Test benches for the combustion of hydrogen
  • Test platform for intelligent micro-array investigations
  • Metrology.

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