MITHRIL: Development of permeation barrier coatings for steels in hydrogen applications
Context
Cost-efficient hydrogen distribution is essential for establishing an economically feasible hydrogen economy with pipeline transmission being the most technologically ready transport method. Despite the economic appeal of using hydrogen in existing natural gas infrastructure, hydrogen ingress into structural materials such as pipeline steel is detrimental due to corrosion and embrittlement. Hydrogen permeation barrier (HPBs) coatings can overcome this deterioration by preventing or delaying the permeation and diffusion of hydrogen without changing the attributes of the structural material.
Research objectives
The MITHRIL project aims to develop, test, and validate different coatings as hydrogen permeation barriers for steels in hydrogen applications. The role of Ghent University’s Sustainable Materials Science (SMS) group is to perform a thorough hydrogen characterization to evaluate the performance of the coatings under hydrogen exposure.
The SMS group will carry out in-situ hydrogen permeation measurements as well as advanced microstructural characterization and thermal desorption spectroscopy to obtain a fundamental understanding of the substrate/coating's performance in terms of impeding or slowing down the hydrogen uptake.
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This project has received funding from the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) under Grant Agreement No. 101216702
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