High-Performance Hydrogen-Based Thermochemical Energy Storage for Zero Carbon Industrial Heat Recovery with Advanced Metal Hydride Nanostructured Catalysts and Hybrid Waste Heat Integration

Industrial processes consume nearly 26% of global energy, with over half lost as waste heat. To address this challenge, we present a novel hydrogen-based thermochemical energy storage (TCES) system that combines magnesium hydride (MgH₂) doped with 3 wt.% Ti and 2 wt.% V, along with a nanostructured TiO₂-V₂O₅ catalyst doped with 3 wt.% Ni. This hybrid design enhances hydrogen absorption/desorption kinetics by 31.2%, reduces activation energy by 21.4%, and achieves a storage capacity of 8.4 wt.% at 350–500°C. When integrated with 600°C industrial waste heat, the system demonstrated > 95% hydrogen retention across 100 cycles and reduced CO₂ emissions by 40% compared to fossil-fuel heating. Numerical validation using ANSYS Fluent and Aspen Plus confirmed experimental performance with < 5% deviation. The results establish the first scalable demonstration of a hydrogen-based TCES system that couples advanced material engineering with industrial waste heat utilization, offering a practical pathway toward zero-carbon, high-efficiency thermal energy recovery.