In this paper a mathematical model has been developed to evaluate various designs of Metal-Hydrogen Storage Vessel (MHSV). This model which considers complex heat and mass transfer is numerically solved and a computer program is developed. The numerical results are compared to the measured data collected on three MHSV and a reasonable agreement is obtained. The performance of an MHSV is mainly denoted by the hydrogen storage time and the capacity of the absorption and desorption. Hence, a discussion based on these parameters has been done. Moreover, results concerning the impact of the heat exchanger configuration are given. (C) 2009 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.