Studies on heat and mass transfer in metal hydride beds

Experiments are carried out on a cylindrical metal hydride reactor filled with MmNi4.5Al0.5 powder. The performance of the reactor during absorption and desorption is obtained at different heat-transfer fluid temperatures. The experimental results are compared with the numerical model which takes into account the variation in bed pressure, hysteresis and plateau slope. There is a good agreement between the experimental and predicted heat and mass transfer rates despite some discrepency in the bed temperatures. The discrepancy in the bed temperatures is attributed to the thermal mass of the reactor and the pressure drop through the bed. © 1995 International Association for Hydrogen Energy Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved.