The key is to use solar power to make hydrogen without using a single molecule of the stored energy Calliban reminds us was stored long ago from solar energy captured in plants, and squeezed by gravity and thermonuclear churning of the Earth's mass.
All that stored energy has given the human race a running start in developing the technology needed for life off planet. There are no comparable stored chemical energy sources elsewhere in the solar system. Humans need to learn how to stop living off the egg we've been given.
Fortunately, we have 8 billion people, and of that number, a few are working on developing the technologies we need to live comfortably without drawing upon the chemical stores we've been exploiting.
(th)
]]>Can China make Hydrogen Electrolyzers cheap as it did for Solar? If it can, hydrogen can replace natural gas, another huge win against climate change.
The answer is 'No', even if they can reduce the cost of electrolysis stacks. Natural gas is something we extract from the ground. The energy is almost free. Hydrogen is something that we must manufacture using expensive electricity. It could substitute natural gas in limited applications. But it will never replace all of the functions performed by natural gas. Most likely, we will eventually rely on it as a feedstock rather than as a direct energy source.
]]>https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/reac … 00528.html
The reason I decided to post the link is that the company in focus appears to be harvesting "free" energy in a clever way .... Aluminum requires a significant investment of energy in order to prepare it for use in products. As I interpret the article, this company collects used Aluminum that is on it's way to being recycled, and uses the aluminum in an exothermic reaction that produces aluminum oxide. The clever use of this resource gives the company an economic benefit, and it yields a product (aluminum oxide) that is available for input to the aluminum industry, at a cost much less that mined aluminum from bauxite.
(th)
]]>https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/e … -vehicles/
Australia needs to embrace hydrogen transport infrastructure, according to a new report by the CSIRO.
The report claims that hydrogen fuel will play a key role in the future of transport, and highlights places for governments and industry to focus their efforts.
I think it has to be a 400 degrees? (C or F?).
I know that microbes can make a living off of consuming Geologic Hydrogen and Carbon compounds in rocks. This is said to be how some petroleum is produced. (It used to be forbidden to say that, for some reason it was required to believe that old vegetation heated in deep rock was the source of Hydrocarbons).
For the moment I am of course considering Mars: https://www.science.org/content/article … -free-fuel Quote:
The Malian discovery was vivid evidence for what a small group of scientists, studying hints from seeps, mines, and abandoned wells, had been saying for years: Contrary to conventional wisdom, large stores of natural hydrogen may exist all over the world, like oil and gas—but not in the same places. These researchers say water-rock reactions deep within the Earth continuously generate hydrogen, which percolates up through the crust and sometimes accumulates in underground traps. There might be enough natural hydrogen to meet burgeoning global demand for thousands of years, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) model that was presented in October 2022 at a meeting of the Geological Society of America.
Of course, this could be a "White Elephant" story, sometimes they are, but it seems logical to me.
I am old enough that I recall that at that time of my youth "Experts" said the Baken could never provide much of its oil reserves at all.
And I suppose because no one had tried, and the technology did not exist, the expert was correct, sort of and then not correct.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_Formation
I am thinking that it would be quite a find to get Geologic/Natural/White Hydrogen from Mars.
If you could burn it, the result might be water and Methane, I think, depending on what the Oxidizer was.
So, yes, I know you could grow microbes with Hydrogen and the Martian Atmosphere. Can you do combustion?
If you added solar heat, could you do better combustion?
Done.
]]>If one high potential place is the East Coast, that would be near offshore wind which could be convenient.
As for the Midwest???
Image Quote:
I believe that the rift continues down to the Southwest as well.
But for up here, what about wind?
https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data
This seems like a good map: https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/332
So, that looks rather good.
I expect high latitude solar schemes to improve, along with heat pumps, and maybe even superconductors.
So, not so regretable.
Done.
]]>tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 14,486
Very recently (2023/08/11-12) Void published a link to a report on geological stores of Hydrogen.For Void ... please continue looking for news about this re-discovery, and post whatever you find in the topic.
At the bottom of the report, as you would surely have noted, there is discussion of the value proposition for large companies that are invested in their underground stocks of hydrocarbons.
I note that the assumed deposits exist along geological fault lines, but those have moved as the eons have gone by, so that for a modern driller, the deposits might be anywhere.
I would be particularly interested, to take just one example, if a huge deposit were directly under SpaceNut's house in New Hampshire.
(th)
Well, I found a bit of something: Geologic Hydrogen:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=white+hyd … 5F&pc=U531
Quote:
There are at least two major areas of the country that have favorable geology for the generation of significant volumes of hydrogen. These lie along the Atlantic coastal plain and in the central U.S., underlying parts of the Great Plains and the Upper Midwest.
The Atlantic area of interest stretches along most of the East Coast and is associated with a band of iron-rich rock layers buried deep beneath the ocean floor. These rocks were deposited as the Atlantic Ocean basin formed. Geophysical surveys have confirmed that some of the iron in these rocks has reacted with water and produced hydrogen, which most likely escaped from the iron-rich rocks and migrated along sedimentary layers toward the shore.
So, maybe.
Done.
]]>https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo … r-AA1dPluA Quote:
Limitless ‘white’ hydrogen under our feet may soon shatter all energy assumptions
The phrases "Geologic Hydrogen" and "White Hydrogen" seem to call up references.
This seems to be Hydrogen generated by the reaction of water to Iron, Heat in Rocks, and radioactive decay. Cracks in the Earth seem to be where it hangs out.
There is the Mariner Rift Valley, and Cerberus Fossae: https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti … sumptions/
Image Quote:
Of course, back on Earth, the talk is that there is likely to be significant geologic Hydrogen in North America, Australia, and Europe.
I guess we may find out.
Done.
Here is another article about such Hydrogen on Earth: https://energycentral.com/news/white-hy … rce-energy
It is my opinion that it may be possible to frack rock with iron in it and inject hot water into it and so stimulate the creation of such Hydrogen. And this could be a way to store summer heat from concentrating mirrors as well. But I don't know if the productivity would justify the effort, if Natural Hydrogen is in abundance anyway.
Done.
If this turns out to be true then no regreta's.
]]>https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pr … 3d157&ei=6
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsma … 46ad7e61c8
Quote:
Potentially, “it's 150 trillion metric tons,” Wicks said. “One billion tons would power the United States for a full year.”
I am guessing that it comes from interactions of hot rocks and water near the fault lines.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a … n%20nature.
Quote:
Hydrogen has been detected at high concentrations, often as the major gas, in all types of geologic environment. A critical evaluation of all the proposed mechanisms regarding the origin of natural hydrogen shows that a deep-seated origin is potentially the most likely explanation for its abundance in nature.
I don't think that life is the major source, but I might be wrong.
We might wonder about Mars for all it "Faults" it to may have Hydrogen.
Done
https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-stor … ion-energy
So perhaps mostly Abiotic:
Not dead Dinosaurs apparently, I don't think they buried their dead that deep.
Hope it's real!
Done.
]]>Hydrogen-powered planes: the future of travel, or just a fantasy? The arguments of the hydrogen skeptics are difficult to ignore: they’re based on the basic science of how hydrogen works.
https://inews.co.uk/news/hydrogen-power … sy-2213334
Hydrogen-powered long haul aircraft are currently being promoted by some as the solution to decarbonizing air travel. Yet the closer you look at the physics and economics the more dubious it appears for this particular application. Reasons include its low energy density relative to jet fuel, the need for cryogenic storage tanks to keep it cooled to -253 degrees C, complete lack of hydrogen refueling infrastructure at airports and the huge energy costs of making truly green hydrogen.
Hydrogen will have a place in a net-zero economy but unfortunately it is being hyped for many uses that it's not ideal for.
]]>Quote:
Engadget
Engadget
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Researchers can now pull hydrogen directly from seawater, no filtering required
Story by Will Shanklin • Yesterday 3:40 PM
19 Comments
Actually, if you were in Kansas, I think you could recycle the sea salt.
Done
]]>Some cultures have turned their backs on invention and technology. This can perhaps happen in an Alpha driven culture where the structure of society is all about the breeding of Alpha males.
I am confused about California. Seems to me that something that should not be there is there. But not my problem. If it is out of place, it will change.
As per a western/somewhat British heritage, I suspect that at least some parts of Australia will not be Alpha breeding dominated. So, perhaps they might indeed do power to gas at some point.
I do see that Bill Gates is into a Solar Concentrating system that is supposed to be able to cook up Hydrogen. I believe it is this: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/19/business … index.html
Let me make it clear. I am not opposed to men being male. Really contrary to that don't so much care for those who may pander to be shamefully subordinate if they don't have to be. But a culture which honors alpha male breeding as it's center point, does not honor invention or technology. Rather the alphas will steal the wealth created by inventors and technological people and try to breed with their women. This is the path back to apehood. Many cultures suffer from this and therefore they are poor and getting poorer.
Done.
.
This post about improved desalination technique could fit well in several topics ...
I'll start it here:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/clea … 42411.html
Engadget
Researchers can now pull hydrogen directly from seawater, no filtering required
It could eventually produce cheap, renewable energy for coastal areas.lingqi xie via Getty Images
Will ShanklinWill Shanklin·Contributing Reporter
Fri, February 3, 2023 at 4:40 PM ESTResearchers at the University of Adelaide announced this week that they made clean hydrogen fuel from seawater without pre-treatment. Demand for hydrogen fuel, a clean energy source that only produces water when burned, is expected to increase in the coming years as the world (hopefully) continues to pivot away from fossil fuels. The findings could eventually provide cheaper green energy production to coastal areas.
“We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen with nearly 100 per cent efficiency, to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyser,” said Professor Shizhang Qiao, the team’s co-lead. Seawater typically needs to be purified before electrolysis splits it into hydrogen and oxygen. The team says its results, using cobalt oxide with chromium oxide on its surface as the catalyst, had similar performance to a standard process of applying platinum and iridium catalysts to highly purified and deionized water.
Compared to freshwater, seawater is an abundant resource, and the ability to extract hydrogen fuel from seawater without pre-treatment could save money. However, even if successfully scaled, it would likely only be practical for coastal communities with plenty of seawater — not so much for Iowa or Kansas.
The team’s next step is to scale the system with a larger electrolyzer. Then, although it’s still early in development, the researchers hope to eventually apply the findings to commercial hydrogen production for fuel cells and ammonia synthesis. Co-lead Yao Zheng summarized, “Our work provides a solution to directly utilise seawater without pre-treatment systems and alkali addition, which shows similar performance as that of existing metal-based mature pure water electrolyser.”
(th)
Of course, if the power source is clean then this is only going to work when that power is local to the ocean water.
]]>Perhaps this will amuse you, I think it uses such: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=3D … &FORM=VIRE
Image Quote:
Quote:
1: Cross-section of Buffon/Fresnel lens. 2: Cross-section of conventional plano-convex lens of equivalent power. (Buffon's version was biconvex.[6])
Whatever they use it will be wanted on Mars for both reasons.
Done.
]]>