Mobility causes almost a fifth of all CO2 emissions. Some mobility sectors are moving towards electrification, but heavy mobility – including ships, construction equipment and trucks – is still largely dependent on diesel. “They consume enormous amounts of energy for a long time, making full electrification unfeasible,” says Fabian Benschop, co-founder of the Delft startup Voyex. Together with his partner Wiard Leenders, he developed a way to store and transport green hydrogen safely, easily and efficiently. And thus make heavy mobility more sustainable. 

When hydrogen is burned, three times as much energy is released as the same amount of natural gas. And if it is produced through electrolysis with green electricity, the fuel is emission-free. But safety and cost challenges still hinder commercial application. “In gaseous form, hydrogen takes up a lot of space,” Fabian specifies. “And storing it under pressure is dangerous and is done in clumsy pressure vessels. A lot of energy is also lost during compression for storage.” Voyex wants to solve this by storing hydrogen in a reusable oily liquid.

Liquid organic hydrogen carrier

The liquid that Voyex produces for this purpose functions as a so-called liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC). “This allows you to store a large amount of hydrogen in a small space and transport it at room temperature and normal air pressure. The liquid is safer than diesel, methanol, ammonia and pure hydrogen – not unimportant to enable a widely supported transition.”