Alliance for Collaborative Research in Alternative Fuel Technology (ALL-CRAFT)

Abstract

ALL-CRAFT (http://all-craft.missouri.edu) is a partnership of the University of Missouri,Columbia (MU, lead institution) and Midwest Research Institute (MRI), Kansas City, to developlow-pressure, high-capacity storage technologies for natural gas (NG, methane) and hydrogen as fuels for advanced transportation. The immediate objective is to replace bulky cylindrical, heavywalled compressed natural gas tanks (CNG, 3600 psi) in current NG vehicles by a flat, lightweight tank, with storage as adsorbed natural gas (ANG, 500 psi, solid-state tank), in nextgeneration clean vehicles. NG vehicles produce no ozone and smog, and up to 40% less greenhouse gases than gasoline or diesel vehicles. NG can reduce the US' dependence on foreign oil (85% of the NG consumed in the US is produced domestically; 12% comes from Canada). It is cheaper than gasoline or diesel at the pump, and can also be produced renewably in the form of biomethane (landfills, sewage treatment plants, farms). The flat tank design, made possible by the low pressure in the ANG tank, is central to a tank that can be mounted under the floor or in other unused space of a car. The tank will make NG vehicles a widely attractive alternative togasoline or diesel vehicles. For hydrogen vehicles, the objective is a flat, lightweight tank with reversible storage as adsorbed hydrogen. Our storage materials are appropriately engineered nanoporous carbons.