Hydrogen is becoming increasingly important for decarbonizing industry and transport, but its transport and storage remain major challenges. Ammonia is emerging as a practical solution, as it can serve as a hydrogen carrier and be transported over long distances using existing infrastructure. However, converting ammonia back into hydrogen using currently available technologies remains energy-intensive and inefficient.
About the project
The COUPLE project addresses these challenges through an innovative concept that integrates ammonia cracking with membrane technologies for hydrogen separation. The system combines palladium-based membrane reactors and proton ceramic electrochemical reactors into a single process, enabling high-purity hydrogen recovery with improved energy efficiency and reduced operating costs.
COUPLE aims to scale up the technology to a demonstration plant with 100 kg H₂/day capacity in Poppendorf, Germany. The system targets an energy efficiency above 90%, ammonia conversion above 99.9%, and a hydrogen recovery rate above 95%.
SINTEF’s role in the project is to identify and qualify alloys resistant to high-temperature ammonia corrosion for the construction of balance-of-plant components. SINTEF is also responsible for evaluating the stability and durability of palladium membranes under dynamic operating conditions in the presence of ammonia.