Pressurized hydrogen from a liquid organic carrier – investigating the specific characteristics of hydrogen provision from 1,4-butanediol

Grüber J, Seitz A, Lami L, Spahn S, Stöber R, Schärfe T, Auer F, Geißelbrecht M, Wasserscheid P (2026)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2026

Journal

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy Elsevier

Book Volume: 250

Article Number: 155980

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.155980

Abstract

Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) systems offer an attractive way to use the existing fuel infrastructure for the storage and transport of green energy equivalents. Traditional aromatic/alicyclic LOHC systems are fossil-based, use platinum metals, and require significant amounts of heat for hydrogen release. This contribution demonstrates technologically highly relevant features of the much less explored γ-butyrolactone (GBL)/1,4-butanediol (BDO) LOHC system. Our experiments show that the significantly lower dehydrogenation enthalpy of BDO (43.2 kJ mol−1H2 compared to 68.3 kJ mol−1H2 for, e.g., methylcyclohexane) enables robust, selective and highly productive hydrogen release under mild conditions. Hydrogen supply at elevated pressures from BDO is also possible and makes use of the high effective volumetric hydrogen storage density of BDO. Our data on catalyst stability, by-product formation, power density in hydrogen release, and purity of the released hydrogen in continuous BDO dehydrogenation further confirms the technical attractiveness of this previously largely overlooked LOHC system.

Authors with CRIS profile

Julian Grüber Lehrstuhl für Chemische Reaktionstechnik (CRT) Adrian Seitz Lehrstuhl für Chemische Reaktionstechnik (CRT) Luca Lami Lehrstuhl für Chemische Reaktionstechnik (CRT) Stefan Spahn Lehrstuhl für Chemische Reaktionstechnik (CRT) Timo Schärfe Technische Fakultät Franziska Auer Lehrstuhl für Chemische Reaktionstechnik (CRT) Michael Geißelbrecht Lehrstuhl für Chemische Reaktionstechnik (CRT) Peter Wasserscheid Lehrstuhl für Chemische Reaktionstechnik (CRT)

Involved external institutions

Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Grüber, J., Seitz, A., Lami, L., Spahn, S., Stöber, R., Schärfe, T.,... Wasserscheid, P. (2026). Pressurized hydrogen from a liquid organic carrier – investigating the specific characteristics of hydrogen provision from 1,4-butanediol. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.155980

MLA:

Grüber, Julian, et al. "Pressurized hydrogen from a liquid organic carrier – investigating the specific characteristics of hydrogen provision from 1,4-butanediol." International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 250 (2026).

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