Tage Malby has joined the group to pursue a PhD about the thermo-physical properties of mixtures between hydrogen, neon and helium that can contribute to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the power demand in hydrogen liquefaction processes. Some advantages of using such mixtures as mixed refrigerants at the lowest temperatures in hydrogen liquefaction are:
- Adding sufficient amount of Neon to the mixture enable use of efficient and scalable turbo-compressors/expanders.
- The mixtures boil at low temperatures, which enhances heat transfer by almost two orders of magnitude.
- They remain fluids below 60K, while other components will form solids and obstruct the process
There are many interesting challenges with these mixtures, since they exhibit strong quantum at low temperatures. Tage also did his Msc. with the group, and has now been hired to do his PhD with us in the Hydrogeni center of research on renewable energy (FME).
