Hydrogen fuel is back in the picture

[rangerrebew]

Features Technology 12 November 2018
Hydrogen fuel is back in the picture

As the price of renewable energy drops and storage technologies mature, hydrogen fuel is drawing fresh attention. Bianca Nogrady reports.
 

Jorgo Chatzimarkakis was refuelling his hydrogen fuel-cell car at one of the 50-plus refuelling stations scattered around Germany when a Tesla driver, who was recharging his own car, approached.

The man was excited to see a hydrogen-powered car in action, and was brimming with questions. Chatzimarkakis, who is secretary general of Hydrogen Europe, was happy to answer them, and the two talked for several minutes.

But by then, the hydrogen car was fully refuelled, while the Tesla driver still faced a long wait while his battery recharged.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/hydrogen-fuel-is-back-in-the-picture

[thackney]

My experience working with hydrogen in refineries convinces me it is a stupid and inefficient energy storage medium.

[Cyber Liberty]

My experience working with hydrogen in refineries convinces me it is a stupid and inefficient energy storage medium.

Seems a bit volatile?

[Joe Wooten]

Seems a bit volatile?

Also irreducibly expensive. Using hydrogen as a fuel is a idiocy not even exceeded by photovoltaic and wind power

[catfish1957]

My experience working with hydrogen in refineries convinces me it is a stupid and inefficient energy storage medium.

After 30 years of dealing with Hydrogen "auto-ignition" issues in the petrochemical industry, I don't think Joe Q Public understands those implications

[thackney]

Seems a bit volatile?

The low specific gravity results in a lot of wasted heated created during compression to get a volume down to a useful size.  They are now starting to use 10,000 psi carbon fiber tanks to get a decent range out of a hydrogen fuel vehicle.

Hydrogen is such a small molecule it takes a higher degree of finish than normal piping threads and flanges.  Otherwise you get a leaky system.

Also hydrogen causes entitlement of normal steel type requiring a more expensive alloy to have a decent life expectancy on the pipe and equipment.

The safety issue following a leak is hydrogen has a huge range of flammability concentrations.  Where methane and gasoline have a rather narrow range (most combinations are either too rich or too lean to ignite), hydrogen will ignite over a very large range.

http://www.wermac.org/safety/safety_what_is_lel_and_uel.html

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The low specific gravity results in a lot of wasted heated created during compression to get a volume down to a useful size.  They are now starting to use 10,000 psi carbon fiber tanks to get a decent range out of a hydrogen fuel vehicle.

Hydrogen is such a small molecule it takes a higher degree of finish than normal piping threads and flanges.  Otherwise you get a leaky system.

Also hydrogen causes entitlement of normal steel type requiring a more expensive alloy to have a decent life expectancy on the pipe and equipment.

The safety issue following a leak is hydrogen has a huge range of flammability concentrations.  Where methane and gasoline have a rather narrow range (most combinations are either too rich or too lean to ignite), hydrogen will ignite over a very large range.

http://www.wermac.org/safety/safety_what_is_lel_and_uel.html

10,000 psi tanks?  Yeah, they do look like little bombs tucked under the hood.