LaNi4.70Al0.30 was characterized by SEM, EDS and XRD. The structure was refined by the Rietveld method. The intermetallic stability temperature range in air was analyzed by DSC. The intermetallic is destabilized at T > 160 degrees C. The intermetallic was annealed at this temperature for 24 h in air. After that, the pressure-composition-isotherms were measured. The thermodynamic properties were calculated from the Van't Hoff diagrams. Values obtained were Delta H-f = 30 +/- 2 kJ/mol and Delta S-f = 0.13 +/- 0.01 kJ/mol for absorption process and Delta H-d = 31 +/- 2 kJ/mol and Delta S-d = 0.14 +/- 0.01 +/- kJ/mol for desorption process. From these results, a scheme of thermal compression of hydrogen (TCH) was proposed. The scheme has a practical compression ratio (R-c) of 7.2 in the 25-100 degrees C temperature range and 1-1000 kPa pressure range. Copyright (c) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.