Re: Hydrogen Production Method Could Bolster Fuel Supplies
From: Bob Eldred (nsmontassoc_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 11/29/04
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Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 13:12:44 -0800
"quasarstrider" <quasarstrider@yahoo.com.br> wrote in message
news:14a48ff9.0411290912.22e9da15@posting.google.com...
> "Bob Eldred" <nsmontassoc@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:<H9mqd.31210$6q2.13305@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>...
> > Another ill conceived hydrogen scheme is proposed here. No one doubts
than
> > hydrogen can be made by nuclear electrolysis or 100 other ways. The
problem
> > is hydrogen as fuel. Simple economics says that if you have electricity
be
> > it nuclear, solar, wind or whatever, you are going to market it as
> > electricity and not change it at say 50% efficiency into a fuel.
Electricity
>
> That was what I thought at first, but they claim to have similar
> efficiency with this combined thermal/electrolysis process as with
> electric power generation using nuclear power (~ 50%). Their
> efficiency figures are close to the Sulfur-Iodine thermal process
> figures I've seen bandied about (~ 52%). So it may not be totally
> useless.
>
> > is more valuable than fuel on a contained energy basis. Therefore,
that's
>
> They are also using some of the waste thermal energy to help produce
> the fuel, not just the electricity.
>
> > what you are going to sell if you have it, unless of course you are
nuts.
> > Such electricity displaces coal, oil and natural gas freeing them for
other
> > use or reducing their use altogether.
>
> There are some things for which cheap hydrogen is more important than
> cheap electric power. Namely to produce ammonia for
> fertilizer/explosives or to
> enrich low-grade hydrocarbon fuels. If these new hydrogen generation
> processes produce cheaper hydrogen than existing methods using natural
> gas, they should still have their place.
I agree, hydrogen's main use is as a synthesis gas for making many things
like ammonia and gasoline. Hydrogen is never likely to be used directly, at
large scale, as a fuel. It has too many negatives. Something on the order of
90% of all hydrogen produced today is used to sythesize gasoline, a
convenient liquid fuel. Expect transportation fuels to always be convenient,
safe, high energy per volume liquids that require no special tankage or
handling requirements. Hydrogen will continue to play a role in this no
matter what its source. Any hydrogen produced will normally always be
produced using the most cost effective method available yielding the highest
returns on investment. Electrolytic hydrogen does not meet that requirement
because the intermediate electricity has greater value than the end product.
Thermal hydrogen is another matter.
Bob
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