tylerbrowner Posted December 18, 2014 Posted December 18, 2014 hydrogen seems like the perfect alternative fuel its super light and more explosive than even gas. and when hydrogen is burned it recombines with oxygen to make water. so its powerful and has no bad air pollution. electric cars have big batteries that have harmful chemicals there too heavy and you cant go vary far. so why haven't we switched over to using hydrogen engines?
imatfaal Posted December 18, 2014 Posted December 18, 2014 1. We can dig petrochemical hydrocardons out of the ground - it is easy. We would need to spend time and energy using this product to create H2 2. Storing hydrogen is a complete nightmare
swansont Posted December 18, 2014 Posted December 18, 2014 The energy density (both energy/mass and energy/volume) is relatively small*. That limits the usefulness. There are chemical problems with transporting it — it reacts with piping, making it brittle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement It also tends to leak. It does not represent a net gain in energy. You don't mine or drill for hydrogen, and get more energy out than you put in; you separate it out of water in a process that requires more energy input. i.e. hydrogen is like a battery, not a fuel source. Oil, coal and gas represent net energy (solar energy that has been stored over eons), and do not suffer (as much) from the above problems. (edit: xpost with imatfaal) * for the gas. But if you go with liquid, you raise a whole new set of issues.
Endy0816 Posted December 18, 2014 Posted December 18, 2014 Only thing I can think of that might work would be the utilization of waste hydrogen from oxygen production operations. Would be pretty limited in scale though.
imatfaal Posted December 18, 2014 Posted December 18, 2014 Only thing I can think of that might work would be the utilization of waste hydrogen from oxygen production operations. Would be pretty limited in scale though. I think oxygen is separated from the nitrogen in the air rather than split from hydrogen in water when it is made in industrial quantities
Endy0816 Posted December 18, 2014 Posted December 18, 2014 I think oxygen is separated from the nitrogen in the air rather than split from hydrogen in water when it is made in industrial quantities hmm. I'm going to have to look that one up now
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now