The Magnetocaloric cooling system produces liquid hydrogen using environmentally friendly technology
Image of some crystals of magnetocaloric material. Credit: University of Groningen / Blake lab
If we want to use hydrogen as fuel for cars or airplanes, or for chemical storage of excess renewable energy, it would be most effective if it were water. However, this would require it to be cooled to 253°C or 20°K, which is very energy intensive using conventional cooling technology.
A team of scientists led by Graeme Blake, assistant professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Groningen (Netherlands), is researching an energy-efficient cooling method called magnetocaloric cooling. The research was published in the journal Nature Communication.
This method involves using materials that will heat up when exposed to a magnetic field. The heat is then transferred to a “heat sink,” which leaves the material—and its surroundings—colder when the gravity is removed. This method not only uses less energy, but also eliminates the need for refrigerant gases, which have a strong greenhouse effect.
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Top left: magnetocaloric material starts in a magnetically disordered (paramagnetic) state at temperature T. Top right: an external magnetic field is applied and causes the material to enter the ordered state strength (ferromagnetic), due to the rise in temperature at T. + ΔT. Bottom right: heat is transferred away from the material to reduce its temperature back to T. Bottom left: gravity is removed and causes the material to lose its gravity, returning in the paramagnetic region and decreasing temperature at T-ΔT. Now heat can be removed from the substance to be cooled (hydrogen), raising the temperature of the magnetocaloric material back to T (top left. Credit: University of Groningen / Blake lab
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This image shows the crystal structure of the new magnetocaloric material: cobalt hydroxide units are shaded pink, sulfate ions are shaded yellow, oxygen atoms are red, carbon atoms are brown, nitrogen atoms are light blue, hydrogen atoms are white. Credit: University of Groningen / Blake lab
Blake used magnetocaloric cooling down to 20°K, cold enough to produce hydrogen. This has been done before, but only with materials containing rare earth metals. The mining of these metals consumes a lot of energy and can cause environmental problems.
What is different about Blake’s property is that it does not contain these metals. “Our materials, or future variants, may reduce costs and improve the environmental friendliness of this cooling technology,” say the authors.
Additional information:
JJB Levinsky et al, The large magnetocaloric effect of a rare earth-free coordination polymer at the temperature of liquid hydrogen, Nature Communication (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52837-x
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