8
Advanced Sealing Technology for Hydrogen
Compressors--Mohawk
Innovative Technology, Inc.,
Dr. Hooshang Heshmat, Principal Investigator, hheshmat@miti.cc
Mr. James Farley Walton II, Business
Official, jwalton@miti.cc
DOE Grant No. DE‑FG02‑07ER84779
Amount:
$742,891
In
support of the hydrogen economy, the DOE seeks to develop delivery technologies
for hydrogen as an energy carrier for transportation and stationary power. However, the 2003 DOE Strategic Initiatives
for Hydrogen Delivery Workshop determined that existing hydrogen compressor
designs cannot meet the need for a reliable, efficient, and cost-competitive
transportation infrastructure. This
project will develop non-contacting, low-leakage sealing technology for
oil-free centrifugal hydrogen compressors capable of transporting up to
1,000,000 kg of hydrogen per day and compressing it from 300 psi to 1,000-2,000
psi. In Phase I, an existing foil seal
design was enhanced for use with hydrogen, a subscale version of the enhanced
design was fabricated, and preliminary static testing was conducted with air
and helium to differential pressures of 100 and 250 psig respectively. The helium was used to simulate
hydrogen. Leakage flow coefficients were
determined to be substantially less than any other dynamic shaft seal. In Phase II, a full-scale seal will be fabricated,
and low leakage will be demonstrated over a wide range of operating
conditions.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by
the awardee: The seal technology
should allow higher efficiency natural gas pipeline compressors to be built and
operated, thereby enabling large-scale hydrogen gas delivery. Based upon the almost 50 million horsepower
of natural gas pipeline compressors in service today, it is estimated that the
use of oil-free, non-contacting bearings and seals – in both hydrogen and
natural gas pipeline compressors – could yield a savings of 33,000 MW-hours of
energy per year. Significant potential
also exists for application of the sealing technology to more efficient gas
turbine engines for aircraft.