Organic hydride/metal hydride heat pump

A heat pump, comprising:

• (a) an organic hydride system that comprises:
• (i) a vessel having a liquid space and a vapor space,
• (ii) a catalytic surface disposed in the vapor space, wherein the catalytic surface promotes hydrogenation of an organic dehydrogenation product to form an organic hydride,
• (iii) means for cooling the catalytic surface when the catalytic surface promotes hydrogenation,
• (iv) a liquid-phase reaction zone in fluid communication with the liquid space,
• (v) a dehydrogenation catalyst disposed in the reaction zone, wherein the dehydrogenation catalyst promotes dehydrogenation of the organic hydride to form H.sub.2,
• (vi) means for providing an endothermic heat of reaction to the reaction zone, and
• (vii) means for transporting H.sub.2 from the reaction zone to the vapor space,
• (b) a metal hydride system that comprises:
• (i) a metal hydride bed,
• (ii) means for transferring heat from a heat source to the metal hydride bed,
• (iii) means for circulating a liquid mixture that comprises the organic hydride through the metal hydride system to remove heat from the metal hydride bed, and
• (c) a duct connecting the vapor space of the organic hydride system with the metal hydride system.

A method of cooling a heat source with a heat pump that includes a metal hydride system and an organic hydride system, comprising the step of:

• (a) operating the device in a primary mode that comprises:
• (i) transferring heat from a heat source to a metal hydride bed, thereby cooling the heat source and decomposing a metal hydride in the bed to form H.sub.2,
• (ii) flowing the H.sub.2 to a vapor space in a liquid hydride system, and
• (iii) reacting the H.sub.2 with a dehydrogenation product at a catalytic surface in the vapor space to form an organic hydride and an exothermic heat of reaction.