The New Oil - Green Hydrogen from the Gulf. "The overall cost of green hydrogen made from sunshine and water in the Gulf could hence be as low as 1.75 $/kg."

submitted by Chop_Chop from linkedin.com

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[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Man if you could desalinate using solar power, and also use that solar power to split water to create hydrogen and oxygen, then use those to combust in vehicles, which only emit water exhaust... the only waste would be the materials that go in to the solar panels and desal/electrolysis and transport facilities.

If the equipment was built to last 100 years, the efficiency could be incredible over the long-term.

As long as you have sunlight and water (which is not being consumed but just transformed to hydrogen and back) then you can keep doing it forever.

[–]Chop_Chop[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Exactly. It's a revolution. Many are unaware that there are >18,000 desalination plants operating daily worldwide.

There are salt water fuel cells but I don't know much about them yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9lRPgCfJ74

It's a new energy paradigm. Energy will be cheaper in the future, not more expensive. And it will change everything.

[–]magnora7[A] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Yeah I've been doing independent research in to rocket fuel just for my own curiosity and I've come to realize how much better pure hydrogen is than any other hydrocarbon. The energy density is like 3x higher for the same mass. The only problem is containing it, you either need a high pressure container, or you have to cool it to 20 degrees Kelvin, where it becomes a liquid. That's the one benefit hydrocarbons have, they stay liquid at room temperature and pressure. If only there was a way to modify hydrogen to make it easier to be a liquid, without adding carbons that dilute the energy density per mass...

[–]Chop_Chop[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

The only problem is containing it

The guy in New Jersey (Inside the Solar Hydrogen House - Mike Strizki) has been storing H2 in old propane tanks (at 200 psi) since around 2005. Not ideal but he says the storage issue is somewhat exaggerated.

Latest news from Australia:

Australian scientists may have solved one of the biggest problems holding back hydrogen-powered cars

snip...CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall says the technology, via a modular unit, paves the way for bulk hydrogen to be transported in the form of ammonia, using existing infrastructure, then reconverted back to hydrogen at the point of use, plugging the gap in the technology chain to supply fuel cell vehicles... more: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australian-scientists-have-found-a-way-to-ship-hydrogen-fuel-cheaply-as-ammonia-2018-8

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Interesting. The cars I was looking at were like 5,000-10,000 psi tanks. Which honestly scares me a bit, that's a ridiculously high pressure.

I wonder if the ammonia version could be put in to the cars, and then the stripped ammonia goes in a waste tank that's returned to the fuel station when you fuel your car up.

Thanks for the info

[–]Chop_Chop[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Which honestly scares me a bit, that's a ridiculously high pressure.

Yup, 10K psi is very high. I've heard they are looking at increasing it - maybe 12-15K for future generations.

Toyota has done great work WRT safety on these tanks. You can imagine that they wouldn't want an incident to damage their 25+ years of work on this tech. Here, they shoot a 50 Calibre bullet at the tank (lesser sizes just bounced off)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVeagFmmwA0

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah I imagine they're well over-designed to not explode, but still scary.