Filed under: Hydrogen
University of New Brunswick makes progress on solid state H2 storage
A team led by Dr. Sean McGrady at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick in Canada is claiming to have made a breakthrough in developing solid state hydrogen storage. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to the use of hydrogen as an energy storage medium for vehicles is safely and efficiently storing the hydrogen. A lot of work is being done by companies such ECD Ovonics on storing the hydrogen dissolved in a solid. McGrady's team is working with a company called HSM Systems to develop and commercialize hydrogen storage systems. The approach they are taking is to convert the hydrogen into a compound that can easily be stored, transported and then used as fuel. They have developed a technique to combine aluminum and hydrogen to produce Alane (AlH3) at relatively low pressure and temperature and then extract the hydrogen at temperatures less than 100C. Alane should be able to store more than nine percent hydrogen by weight. McGrady and his colleagues will be presenting their findings at the meeting of the American Physical Society this week.
[Source: University of New Brunswick]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GrindingAxis 8:07AM (3/16/2007)
Fredericton, where UNB is located, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Congrats, UNB, on your find.
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Howard Lee Harkness 10:17AM (3/16/2007)
"One of the biggest stumbling blocks to the use of hydrogen as an energy storage medium for vehicles is safely and efficiently storing the hydrogen."
Great. Now all that remains is to repeal the laws of thermodynamics and chemistry so that hydrogen production can be cheaper than competing technologies that are actually 'green'.
Some noise has been made about bio-production of hydrogen, but I suspect that the long term most economical way to product hydrogen will be to saddle our grandchildren with a horrific cleanup bill in the form of nuclear power. Of course, it will still be cheaper and cleaner to just transport and use the electrons (skipping the enormously wasteful hydrogen-conversion process). My daughter has informed me that she doesn't plan to have any children, so I'm okay with it -- the rest of you can go ahead and foul your own nest if you choose.
Maybe we can revive the ancient pursuit of alchemy while we are at it, but with a twist: Converting base metals into platinum instead of gold. Then we have have plentiful, cheap catalyst material to go with our cheap, 'safe' hydrogen.
Until then, there will continue to be no scenario in which using hydrogen for powering cars can't be replaced by something cheaper, safer, and greener. Cheaper, safer, and greener will be the natural choice for those of us who can't freely spend other people's money (or who aren't rich and foolish).
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Brad Jensen 3:04PM (3/19/2007)
There is an easy way to store hydrogen for later use as an energy source, and it was invented int he 1930s. It is called synthetic oil. You combine extremely high temperature steam with carbon (say from coal, or from corn stalks) and you get oil you can turn into diesel fuel, gasoline, or whatever.
Use nuclear energy as the heat srouce, and you will in effect be converting nuclear energy into gasoline. Or you could use energy from windmills, solar power, or whatever.
The oil you generate would be cleaner than fossil fuel oil and could go through all the same pipelines and be burned in powerplants or car, planes, trains, with no changes.
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