A STORAGE VESSEL COMPRISING A ONE-PIECE SHAPED BODY OF A POROUS SOLID

Abstract

The invention is related to a storage vessel (1) comprising a shaped body (3) of a porous solid, wherein the storage vessel (1) comprises a wall (5) with a section (7) comprising at least one inlet (9), wherein the storage vessel (1) has a central axis (11) and the central axis (11) is a longitudinal axis of the storage vessel (1) and/or perpendicular to a cross-sectional area of the at least one inlet (9), wherein the shaped body (3) covers at least 85% of an inner volume (13) of the storage vessel (1) and the shaped body (3) comprises an opening (19) in an axial direction (17), axial referring to the central axis (11) of the storage vessel (1), wherein the opening (19) extends from a first end (21) of the shaped body (3) to an opposing second end (23) of the shaped body (3) and wherein the storage vessel (1) comprises exactly one shaped body (3), which is formed in one piece. The invention is further related to a shaped body and use of the shaped body.

Claims

1.-15. (canceled)

16. A storage vessel (1) comprising a shaped body (3) of a porous solid, wherein the storage vessel (1) comprises a wall (5) with a section (7) comprising at least one inlet (9), wherein the storage vessel (1) has a central axis (11) and the central axis (11) is a longitudinal axis of the storage vessel (1) and/or perpendicular to a cross-sectional area of the at least one inlet (9), wherein the shaped body (3) covers at least 85% of an inner volume (13) of the storage vessel (1) and the shaped body (3) comprises an opening (19) in an axial direction (17), axial referring to the central axis (11) of the storage vessel (1), wherein the opening (19) extends from a first end (21) of the shaped body (3) to an opposing second end (23) of the shaped body (3) and wherein the storage vessel (1) comprises exactly one shaped body (3), which is formed in one piece, wherein the shaped body (3) comprises hollow channels (15) in the axial direction (17) and a cross-sectional area (25) of each hollow channel (15) is smaller than a cross-sectional area (27) of the opening (19).

17. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein the hollow channels (15) have an inner diameter (31) in a range from 0.5 mm to 3 mm.

18. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein a sum of the cross-sectional areas (25) of all hollow channels (15) is less than 20% smaller or greater than the cross-sectional area of the at least one inlet (9).

19. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein a shortest distance (33) between two circumferences of the cross-sectional areas (25) of adjacent hollow channels (15) is less than 2 cm.

20. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein the storage vessel (1) comprises at least one outlet (35), and the at least one inlet (9) and the at least one outlet (35) are both provided in the same section (7) of the wall (5) of the storage vessel (1).

21. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein a first void space (43), which is free of the shaped body (3), is provided between the wall (5) of the storage vessel (1) and an end face (45) of the shaped body (3), which faces in the axial direction (17) and which faces away from the at least one inlet (9), and wherein the first void space (43) comprises up to 15% of the inner volume (13) of the storage vessel (1).

22. The storage vessel according to claim 21, wherein at least one first spacer (47) is provided next to or on the end face (45) of the shaped body (3).

23. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein a second void space (37), which is free of the shaped body (3), is provided between the wall (5) of the storage vessel (1) and a peripheral surface (39) of the shaped body (3), wherein the peripheral surface (39) faces in a radial direction (41), radial referring to the central axis (11), and wherein the second void space (37) comprises up to 10% of the inner volume (13) of the storage vessel (1).

24. The storage vessel according to claim 23, wherein at least one second spacer (49) is provided next to or on the peripheral surface (39) of the shaped body (3).

25. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein the storage vessel (1) and the shaped body (3) have a cylindrical shape.

26. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein a shortest extension of the shaped body (3) is in a range from 10 cm to 100 cm and a longest extension of the shaped body (3) is in the range from 20 cm to 300 cm.

27. The storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein the porous solid is selected from the group consisting of activated charcoals, zeolites, activated aluminia, silica gels, open-pore polymer foams, metal hydrides, metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and combinations thereof and wherein the gas is selected from the group consisting of natural gas, shale gas, town gas, methane, ethane, hydrogen, propane, propene, ethylene, carbon dioxide and combinations thereof.

28. Shaped body for use in a storage vessel according to claim 16, wherein the shaped body is of a porous solid, the shaped body comprises an opening, the opening (19) extending from a first end (21) of the shaped body (3) to an opposing second end (23) of the shaped body (3), wherein the shaped body (3) is formed in one piece and wherein the shaped body (3) comprises hollow channels (15) in the axial direction (17) and a cross-sectional area (25) of each hollow channel (15) is smaller than a cross-sectional area (27) of the opening (19).

29. Method of using a shaped body according to claim 28 for storing gas.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0092] The present invention is described in more detail at hand of the accompanying drawings in which:

[0093] FIG. 1 shows a storage vessel with a shaped body according to the invention;

[0094] FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a shaped body according to the invention and

[0095] FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal-sectional view of a storage vessel according to the invention.

[0096] FIG. 1 shows a storage vessel 1 according to the invention with a shaped body 3 arranged therein. The storage vessel 1 and the shaped body 3 are both of a cylindrical shape. At least 85% of an inner volume 13 of the storage vessel 1 is covered by the shaped body 3. In a section 7 of a wall 5 of the storage vessel 1 an inlet 9 is provided. In this illustrative example, the section 7 is an end face of the cylindrical storage vessel 1. A gas can enter the storage vessel 1 through the inlet 9 and further flow in parallel to a central axis 11 through an opening 19 of the shaped body 3.

[0097] In order to give an orientation two directions are defined in a relation to the storage vessel 1. An axial direction 17 is parallel to the center axis 11 and a radial direction 41 is any rectangular direction referring to the central axis 11. The radial direction 41 is further parallel to a surface of a first end 21 and a surface of a second end 23 of the shaped body 3, which is opposing the first end 21. Here, the radial direction 41 is also parallel to the section 7 of the wall 5.

[0098] The opening 19 connects the first end 21 with the second end 23. Apart from the opening 19, the shaped body 3 is traversed by hollow channels 15, which are preferably parallel to the opening 19 and the central axis 11. Also the hollow channels 15 reach from the first end 21 to the second end 23. The hollow channels 15 comprise cross-sectional areas 25, which are smaller than a cross-sectional area 27 of the opening 19.

[0099] Between an end face 45 of the shaped body 3, which faces away from the inlet 9 at the wall 5 of the storage vessel 1 a first void space 43 is provided.

[0100] A peripheral surface 39, here corresponding to a cylindrical shell of the cylindrical shaped body 3, is curved and faces towards a curved part of the wall 5. Between the peripheral surface 39 and the wall 5 of the storage vessel 1 a second void space 37 is provided. Consequently, the peripheral surface 39 is in large parts not in direct contact to the wall 5.

[0101] FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a shaped body 3 according to the invention. The shaped body 3 provides an opening 19 in a central position. In addition to the opening 19, several hollow channels 15 are provided. The hollow channels 15 are distributed homogeneously over a cross-sectional area of the shaped body 3 and the hollow channels 15 are arranged in an equal distance 33 to each other. Further, three second spacers 49 are provided directly on a peripheral surface 39 of the shaped body 3 in order to generate a second void space 37 between the wall 5 of the storage vessel 1 and the peripheral surface 39 of the shaped body 3.

[0102] FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a storage vessel 1 according to the invention. A shaped body 3, which is traversed by an opening 19 and several hollow channels 15, is arranged in the storage vessel 1. A section 7 of a wall 5 of the storage vessel 1 comprises an inlet 9 as well as an outlet 35. A gas can enter the storage vessel 1 through the inlet 9 and further flow through the opening 19 towards and end face 45 of the shaped body 3, which faces in axial direction 17 away from the inlet 9. From the opening 19 the gas enters a first void space 43, which is generated by first spacers 47, which are provided on the end face 45. In case of a filling process, wherein a flow-through is established, the gas can flow back from the first void space 43 to the outlet 35 either through the hollow channels 15 or a second void space 37 at a peripheral surface 39 of the shaped body 3. By the described gas flow heat, which is generated in the storage vessel 1 by for example adsorption of the gas onto the porous material of the shaped body 3, can be transferred from the center to the wall 5 of the storage vessel 1 and out of the storage vessel 1 through the outlet 34.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE

[0103] A cylindrical storage vessel possesses an inlet and an adjacent outlet. A longest extension of the cylindrical storage vessel, also referred to as length, is 1.5 m and an inner diameter is 0.5 m. Consequently, the total inner volume of the storage vessel accounts to 0.29 m.sup.3. In the storage vessel a cylindrical shaped body is arranged. The shaped body is made of the MOF material Z377 and has a density of 500 g/L. A longest extension of the shaped body is 1.495 m, an outer radius of the shaped body is 0.25 m. Between the shaped body and the wall of the storage vessel a distance of 0.5 cm is provided at the side of the storage vessel, which opposes the inlet and the outlet.

[0104] The storage vessel is filled with natural gas to a maximum storage pressure of 250 bar within 20 minutes. During the filling process a flow-through regime is established, which is further described in WO 2014/057416. The pressure is raised from ambient pressure to 80 bar within 5 minutes. Then, the pressure of 80 bar is kept constant for 10 minutes and a flow-trough regime is established, leading gas into the storage vessel through the inlet and out of the storage vessel through the outlet simultaneously. Then, the pressure is further raised to 250 bar within 5 minutes.

[0105] Resulting storage capacities were determined by numerical simulation. 130 g gas per liter of the MOF material are storable in this storage vessel.

EXAMPLE 1

[0106] The storage vessel as described in the comparative example is applied. In contrast to the comparative example, the shaped body additionally provides an opening along the central axis with a radius of the opening of 3 cm.

[0107] The storage vessel is filled as described for the comparative example. Now, 200 g gas per liter of the MOF material are storable in the storage vessel.

EXAMPLE 2

[0108] The storage vessel as described in the comparative example is applied. In contrast to the comparative example, the shaped body additionally provides an opening along the central axis with a radius of the opening of 3 cm and the shaped body further provides approximately 700 bores, also referred to as hollow channels, in parallel to the opening. Each channel has a diameter of 2 mm and the channels are homogeneously distributed over the shaped body with a distance of 1 cm to each other.

[0109] The arrangement of this shaped body results in an empty volume, which is free of the shaped body, of 0.01 m.sup.3. Referring to the total inner volume of the storage vessel, 97 vol.-% of the storage vessel are occupied by the shaped body and 3 vol.-% is free of porous solid.

[0110] The storage vessel is filled as described for the comparative example. Now, 270 g gas per liter of the MOF material are storable in the storage vessel.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0111] 1 storage vessel [0112] 3 shaped body [0113] 5 wall [0114] 7 section [0115] 9 inlet [0116] 11 central axis [0117] 13 inner volume [0118] 15 hollow channel [0119] 17 axial direction [0120] 19 opening [0121] 21 first end [0122] 23 second end [0123] 25 cross-sectional area of the hollow channels [0124] 27 cross-sectional area of the opening [0125] 31 inner diameter [0126] 33 distance [0127] 35 outlet [0128] 37 second void space [0129] 39 peripheral surface [0130] 41 radial direction [0131] 43 first void space [0132] 45 end face [0133] 47 first spacer [0134] 49 second spacer