Also where is the energy to keep the liquid hydrogen liquid? -241C is not cheap.
Here are some of my thoughts about it, based on past knowledge and some quick gathering of information.
I watched some promo videos. And i am not certain that the hydrogen is kept at -241 degrees celcius. Cryogenic storage it is often called, it seems.
By a quick glance, it seems either pressure based or storage material based.
My assumption based on the promo video is pressure based.
Material based storage is well on its way and in my opinion the best way.
Cryogenic storage and pressure based storage is what is currently used to transport grey hydrogen. Grey hydrogen is hydrogen created by use of the proces of natural gas reforming AKA steam methane reforming, the methane in the natural gas is broken down into hydrogen atoms and carbon atoms and some other left over elements.
This is because of the Fischer–Tropsch process, developed in Germany around 1925.
My guess would be that in the near future something like methane or another by us humans created molecular construct would be used as material based storage.
Thinking of all current research about material based storage like for example the ammonia storage based hydrogen fuel cell tractor with an electrical drivetrain, described in post #6 of this thread, see weblink to exceptional and original article from arstechnica :
Ammonia is already a widely used fertilizer, so the infrastructure is in place.
arstechnica.com
Excerpt from the text :
"
Amogy's system can power the tractor for several hours on a 60-gallon tank of ammonia. But it's not used directly in the fuel cell; instead, the ammonia is cracked in a reactor to make hydrogen on-demand, which is then used to power the fuel cell. While there are inefficiencies in the system, Amogy says that the higher energy density of ammonia in the first place means you can easily carry enough fuel to compensate, coming out ahead of a normal hydrogen fuel cell in terms of both energy and power density.
"
My idea and thoughts about it in the event of disaster on the highway or just on the road. We know how real life goes, how everyday people are and how reckless people can be in automobiles and on motorcycles, we have to take this into account , much needed standards and certification :
- Pressure based is not favorable, danger because of high pressure, think for example freeze spray if it goes wrong. Fast gas expansion makes for very cold temperatures. We do not want freeze burns or material falling apart. This has something to do, those gas specialized scientists already figured out : Boyle, Poisson, Gay Lussac, Dalton.
- Cold storage is also not favorable, needs power to stay cool for longer periods of time and turns into high pressure when the temperature of the gas rises. Which also presents itself as a very dangerous situation.
- In both cases, you lose a lot of very volatile hydrogen gas in a oxygen rich environment and all you need is one electrostatic discharge for things to go BOOM !. For a very awful example , read about the historical disaster about the hydrogen filled airship(blimp) called LZ 129 Hindenburg and how it burned up and exploded in 1937.
- Also, just watch the numerous youtube videos about exploding hydrogen oxygen mixes. Even today, when building windturbines at sea or near the sea, the buildup of hydrogen inside the closed tubular tower carrying the nacelle and rotor because of hydrogen producing bacteria is a real problem and is something that is always taken into account when designing windturbines.
I prefer material based. Based on a catalyst to release the hydrogen, so biological based :
But if you think really wel about the subject, you will find that hydrocarbons are a very good storage of hydrogen.
One wants a high hydrogen to carbon ratio. To increase the amount of available stored hydrogen.
It seems there are aliphatic hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons.
My guess would be that aliphatic hydrocarbons are favorable because of the high hydrogen to carbon ratio.
Think of Decane for example , which after a quick glance looks good, or at least it seems good. See this Kekule structure.
Image property of :
General website :
https://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/
My guess would be that this is the way to go. Hey... How natural of me...
The thing is to strip those hydrogen atoms from that molecule by use of an catalyst like for example an enzyme.
And that is i think where bacteria are good at. And we end up once again with methanogens or a specific family.
In my opinion, the specific methanogen families that have been flared of for decades now by natural gas flaring or methane flaring...
Because it is known that oil is converted by methanogens into methane but as syntrophic bacteria.
I remember that some biologist did research near the deep water horizon offshore oil drill platform.
And that biologist rediscovered something that is known for years, the hydrocarbons from the leaked oil is broken down into methane and hydrogen and CO2 by bacteria very similar to methanogens.
So, either use the enzyme alone or another solution that breaks the atomic bonds between the hydrogen and the carbon atoms and allows for the hydrogen to be captured and used for a fuel cell.
And then we have electricity and we are happy. Because then, us electronic designers come in and we know what to do. We have known for almost 200 years (Think Michael Faraday, 193 years ago) ... And probably longer perhaps in past civilizations... But the gadflies and the voodoo people came in and still exist today. (Cargo cult cultures, see Richard P. Feynman in a future post).
Anyway, i am drifting off... The advances when it comes to electromotors and the electronics that drive them are amazing.
One more thing, why these aliphatic hydrocarbons ?
Although the vapor can be dangerous, i do remember seeing people sticking burning matches in for example gasoline and nothing happens. That is a big plus. And we know how to build gastanks.
Highest hydrogen to carbon ratio :
One more thing, the best hydrogen to carbon ratio can be found in methanegas = CH4. 4 hydrogen atoms for every one carbon atom. Second best is ammonia = NH3, three hydrogen atoms for every one nitrogen atom.
So perhaps we either end up as hydrogen with a methane gas tank or a ammonia tank or a decane tank. A catalyst, a fuel cell and then the electronics to move us around.
Imagine that, still having a gas tank, but with a catalyst , fuel cell and electromotor+driver electronics.
That would mean hardly any change to the current gasoline infrastructure ! If that is not a huge positive, i do not know what is...
The produced pure carbon would have to be stored and be recycled. But that is not a biggy.
And the biggest plus : We can just create methane and hydrocarbons from CO2 and water as hydrogen carriers.
And create ammonia and thereby use the polluting nitrogen that is spilled over into nature to produce ammonia.
As a sidenote, We also have a nitrogen pollution problem.
This causes unbalance in the microbial communities in local waters like ditches, rivers and lakes and perhaps even seas.
This unbalance can cause increased methane production and reduced methane consumption by microbial life.
We can use the gathered nitrogen together with green hydrogen or blue hydrogen as a basis for the ammonia as a hydrogen carrier.
See this article form hackaday as an informative article about capturing Co2 and produce methane once again :
There’s something intrinsically simple about the concept of carbon (CO2) capture: you simply have the CO2 molecules absorbed or adsorbed by something, after which you separate the thus captur…
hackaday.com
The advances thereafter :
When we have portable matter to electricity power supplies we can drop this again... Something like a specific radiation to free electrons, something similar to photovoltaic energy conversion or more advanced thermophotovoltaic energy conversion (see future posts, over 40% efficiency IIRC) but with more powerful radiation and i would guess an easy to replace scintillator, all for consumer use : Direct radiation to electricity : Radiation -> Scintillation -> Photovoltaic Element -> electricity - > Feeling Irie ! Celebration ! All this by making really smart use of scintillation and the photoelectric effect.
The advances when it comes to electromotors and the electronics that drive them, just read the robotics : state of the art technology thread :
I thought it would be nice to make a robotics thread. To post here the latest achievements. Please post findings if you have them... We all know the amazing robots if Boston dynamics... Such as the alpha dog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbZrQp-HOk Today i read about a robotic...
forums.anandtech.com
Something to think about.
Now i have to rest, because my head is killing me.
Information about : Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) :
We cool natural gas to make a liquid, shrinking its volume 600 times for easy shipping to energy-hungry places around the world.
www.shell.com
Small excerpt from the text :
"
When gas is cooled to -162°C (-260°F) it forms a liquid,
shrinking the volume of the gas by 600 times, making it possible to store and ship safely. In its liquid state,
LNG will not ignite.
When LNG reaches its destination, it is turned back into a gas at regasification plants.
We have continued to innovate and improve the technology behind LNG and have worked hard to expand the availability of LNG around the world. For instance, we developed Prelude FLNG, the world’s largest floating LNG production facility, which accesses gas resources from underwater fields too uneconomic or challenging to reach from land.
"
As a last sidenote : Background literature about natural gas flaring and methane flaring (Which in essence is the same subject...) :
Non-emergency flaring and venting occur when oil field operators opt to burn the "associated" gas that accompanies oil production, or simply release it to the atmosphere, rather than to build the equipment and pipelines to capture it.
www.iea.org
Financing reductions in oil and gas methane emissions - Analysis and key findings. A report by the International Energy Agency.
www.iea.org
Excerpt from text :
"
The oil and gas industry has some of the best and most cost-effective opportunities to reduce methane emissions. The potential to do so is clear.
Some countries and companies have already demonstrated that achieving near-zero emissions from oil and gas operations is technically and economically possible. There are a growing number of initiatives, policies and regulations aiming to reduce emissions globally, and
many reductions can be realised while saving money. However, overall progress has been much too slow, despite the record profits that the oil and gas industry saw in 2022. This report looks in detail at the investment requirements to deliver a sharp reduction in oil and gas methane emissions to 2030, and how these could be financed. The analysis is intended to inform discussions in the runup to COP28 and help prompt the necessary actions to accelerate the pace of change.
"
About Amogy and ammonia cracking :
Introducing ammonia as energy: Amogy. Emission-free fuel for a sustainably-driven future The Problem Commercial transportation accounts for 9% of today’s global CO2 emissions > INTRODUCING AMOGY Powering the Future with Amogy’s Sustainable Energy Solution A powerful, clean energy solution that’s...
amogy.co
About the University of Utrecht(The Netherlands) and using ammonia as a hydrogen carrier. (In dutch, use google translate to translate to your native language)
Onderzoekers uit Utrecht en Eindhoven zijn erin geslaagd een katalysator te maken die bij lagere temperaturen werkt en alleen de elementen koolstof en kalium bevat.
www.uu.nl
And for the fun of it, the translated to English version :
Onderzoekers uit Utrecht en Eindhoven zijn erin geslaagd een katalysator te maken die bij lagere temperaturen werkt en alleen de elementen koolstof en kalium bevat.
www-uu-nl.translate.goog