Throughout the month of April, in partnership with energy storage company Energy Vault, the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources (SER) hosted a competition which had students identify possible new methods of hydrogen storage, as well as providing examples of current research or companies exploring such methods.
The competition was won by UW doctoral student Rami Alloush from Damanhour, Egypt. The top prize of $5,000 was awarded to Alloush for his presentation.
His presentation provided an examination of current available hydrogen storage methods as well as discussing new and emerging hydrogen storage technologies. It also provided recommendations for the most logical way forward in hydrogen storage based on economic viability and potential growth.
“I would love to thank Energy Vault and SER for the great opportunity and the generous prize. The whole experience has been very educational and enlightening,” Alloush said.
Alloush is a doctoral candidate of petroleum engineering, supervised by Wyoming Excellence Chair Mohammad Piri, who also works at UW as a professor in energy and petroleum engineering.
Energy Vault works to identify and build practical and sustainable energy storage solutions, with the competition created to help support their mission.
“The chance to deploy energy storage technologies through the use of hydrogen and batteries comes with the opportunity to introduce fresh ideas and bright minds already immersed in the field. We are excited to be working with the University of Wyoming on this competition.” said Daniel Han, Energy Vault’s senior project manager.
Students were judged on the commercial relevance of their research, breadth of the scope provided from end-to-end technology, and presentation presence.
“We would like to thank Energy Vault for investing in our students,” said Scott Quillinan, SER senior director of research.
“Sponsored student competitions are a great way for our brilliant students to use their skills and expertise, think outside of the box and help members of the industry find solutions to real challenges. We are so proud of the students from across multiple disciplines who were able to showcase their abilities, and we offer our congratulations to all of the competitors.”
