VUB: Department of Chemical Engineering

General expertise of the research group

The Department of Chemical Engineering at VUB has extended expertise in separation processes, in particular separation and purification of gas and liquid mixtures by adsorption and chromatography. Advanced experimental techniques (lab on a chip, high- throughput experimentation, …) are combined with state-ofthe-art computer modelling methods, including molecular modelling and computational fluid dynamics, to obtain insight in the fundamental adsorption, diffusion and mass and heat transfer effects. The department has 3 core research topics: adsorptive separation processes, HPLC technology and analysis and microfluidics and microreactors

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Adsorption, gas separation, purification and storage
• Hydrogen storage in porous solids
• Hydrogen clathrate formation
• Study of kinetics, uptake and thermodynamics of hydrogen storage
• Experimental assessment and modelling of storage
• CFD modelling for flow field design of electrolysers and fuel cells
• Know-how on gas sampling, in-line/ on-line / off-line gas analysis

Available equipment/tools:

• Ultra-precise (in-house built) gravimetric experimental setup to study H2-storage in porous solids: kinetics of storage, uptake capacity, thermodynamics in a broad range of conditions (77K, -30 to 70°C, up to 15 MPa, density measurement, many types of gases)
• Volumetric setup to study gas storage in porous solids
• Breakthrough setup to study purification of hydrogen streams (removal of trace impurities)
• Gas analysis equipment (GC, GC-MS, MS)
• Software tools to simulate H2-storage processes

Participating in FL/B/EU funded projects with H2 related research:

• ARCLATH, H2 storage in artificial clathrates, VLAIO, Project coordinator: KULeuven, Prof. J. Martens, main partners: KULeuven, UGent, UAntwerpen, VUB.

International collaborations:

• ITQ Valencia (Prof. F. Rey): micro- and mesoporous solids
• Université de Montpellier (Prof. G. Maurin): molecular modelling of adsorption

Main relevant publications

1. Gupta, A., Baron, G. V., Perreault, P., Lenaerts, S., Ciocarlan, R.-G., Cool, P., … ,Denayer, J. F. M. (2021). Hydrogen Clathrates: Next Generation Hydrogen Storage Materials. Energy Storage Materials, 41, 69–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ensm.2021.05.044.
2. Sharma, R., Cousin-saint-remi, J., Tiriana, S., Delplancke, M., Pletincx, S., Baert, K., … Denayer, J.
3. F. M. (2022). Metal-organic framework ZIF-8 for exceptional HCl removal from Hydrogen gas by reaction. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 47(47), 20556–20560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.04.244
4. Sharma, R., Segato, T., Delplancke, M.-P., Terryn, H., Baron, G. V., Denayer, J. F. M., & Cousin- Saint- Remi, J. (2020). Hydrogen chloride removal from hydrogen gas by adsorption on hydrated ion- exchanged zeolites. Chemical Engineering Journal, 381(August 2019), 122512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.122512.
5. De Schepper, P., Danilov, V. A., & Denayer, J. F. M. (2016). Cathode flow field design for nitric oxide/ hydrogen fuel cell in cogeneration of hydroxylamine and electricity. International Journal of Energy Research, 40(10), 1355–1366. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.3519