CaptainJJack

Is Hydrogen the Best of the Green Fuels?

We are living in a hydrogen economy RIGHT NOW. The issue is what do we use as the transport mechanism.

One of best transport mechanism for hydrogen is natural gas with 4 hydrogen molecules attached to one carbon -- pretty efficient.

Gasoline and other oil derivatives aren't bad, either. The hydrogen packed in one milliliter of gasoline is much more than than same amount of TNT.

So, there are efficient ways of transporting the hydrogen, but there are also problems, the biggest of which are the by products, primarily CO2.

That leads to pure hydrogen where the by product is water.

Enthusiasts anticipate the obvious issue that while hydrogen itself is pure, most of the ways of generating pure hydrogen have environmental cost. The counter is usually electrolysis driven by wind or solar --- how can anyone argue with that.

Sure the costs are high, now, they continue, but investing in "green technology" will drive down the costs, and hopefully soon, hydrogen will become feasible.

Transporting pure hydrogen will always be problematic. At ambient temperature and at normal pressure, a car tank worth of hydrogen will take you about 4 feet. Compression and liquefying are technical answers, but at what cost?

ALL of the transport alternatives for pure hydrogen transport are poor, right now. SIGNIFICANT new infrastructure investment is required, and the physics of pure hydrogen are daunting: the atoms are so small, they invade any container material making it brittle over time.

For my money, the two best hydrogen transport mechanisms I've found are methanol (essentially methanol with an oxygen atom stuck in that the Germans used as a fuel alternative in WWI and WWII) and, hopefully, the new algae technologies that Exxon is investing in.

The new fuel cell technologies may also be promising, although it is impossible to separate the hype from the truth, especially when it comes to how long they last and how much it really costs to own and run one.

Pure hydrogen is a long, long,long,long long ,long way off, in my opinion.