Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Stanford engineers set record for capturing and storing solar energy in hydrogen fuel
http://news.stanford.edu/2016/10/31/stanford-engineers-set-record-capturing-storing-solar-energy-hydrogen-fuel/[font face=Serif]October 31, 2016
[font size=5]Stanford engineers set record for capturing and storing solar energy in hydrogen fuel[/font]
[font size=4]Stanford scientists used the electricity generated by high-efficiency solar cells to turn water into a chemical capable of storing 30 percent of the sun’s energy over long periods of time.[/font]
By Tom Abate
[font size=3]Solar energy has the potential to provide abundant power, but only if scientists solve two key issues: storing the energy for use at all hours, particularly at night, and making the technology more cost effective. Now an interdisciplinary team at Stanford has made significant strides toward solving the storage issue, demonstrating the most efficient means yet of storing electricity captured from sunlight in the form of chemical bonds. If the team can find a way of lowering the cost of their technology, they say it would be a huge step toward making solar power a viable alternative to current, more polluting energy sources.
The basic science behind the team’s approach is well understood: Use the electricity captured from sunlight to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas. That stored energy can be recovered later in different ways: by recombining the hydrogen and oxygen into water to release electricity again, or by burning the hydrogen gas in an internal combustion engine, similar to those running on petroleum products today.
Although the process is well understood, the challenge has been turning this science into an efficient industrial process. That’s where a team led by Thomas Jaramillo, an associate professor of chemical engineering and of photon science, and James Harris, a professor of electrical engineering, has made a significant improvement. In work published in Nature Communications, they were able to capture and store 30 percent of the energy captured from sunlight into stored hydrogen, beating the prior record of 24.4 percent.
“This milestone brings us much closer to a sustainable and practical process to use water-splitting as a storage technology,” Jaramillo said. “Improving efficiency has a remarkable impact on lowering costs. We have to continue work on finding more ways to lower the costs to compete with conventional fuels.”
…[/font][/font]
[font size=5]Stanford engineers set record for capturing and storing solar energy in hydrogen fuel[/font]
[font size=4]Stanford scientists used the electricity generated by high-efficiency solar cells to turn water into a chemical capable of storing 30 percent of the sun’s energy over long periods of time.[/font]
By Tom Abate
[font size=3]Solar energy has the potential to provide abundant power, but only if scientists solve two key issues: storing the energy for use at all hours, particularly at night, and making the technology more cost effective. Now an interdisciplinary team at Stanford has made significant strides toward solving the storage issue, demonstrating the most efficient means yet of storing electricity captured from sunlight in the form of chemical bonds. If the team can find a way of lowering the cost of their technology, they say it would be a huge step toward making solar power a viable alternative to current, more polluting energy sources.
The basic science behind the team’s approach is well understood: Use the electricity captured from sunlight to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas. That stored energy can be recovered later in different ways: by recombining the hydrogen and oxygen into water to release electricity again, or by burning the hydrogen gas in an internal combustion engine, similar to those running on petroleum products today.
Although the process is well understood, the challenge has been turning this science into an efficient industrial process. That’s where a team led by Thomas Jaramillo, an associate professor of chemical engineering and of photon science, and James Harris, a professor of electrical engineering, has made a significant improvement. In work published in Nature Communications, they were able to capture and store 30 percent of the energy captured from sunlight into stored hydrogen, beating the prior record of 24.4 percent.
“This milestone brings us much closer to a sustainable and practical process to use water-splitting as a storage technology,” Jaramillo said. “Improving efficiency has a remarkable impact on lowering costs. We have to continue work on finding more ways to lower the costs to compete with conventional fuels.”
…[/font][/font]
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
He really doesn’t care about any facts which contradict it.
For example, that costly compression step. That’s devastating! (Or is it?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-pressure_electrolysis
[font face=Serif][font size=5]High-pressure electrolysis[/font]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[font size=3]High-pressure electrolysis (HPE) is the electrolysis of water by decomposition of water (H₂O) into oxygen (O₂ ) and hydrogen gas (H₂ ) due to the passing of an electric current through the water. The difference with a standard proton exchange membrane electrolyzer is the compressed hydrogen output around 12–20 megapascals (120–200 bar) at 70 °C. By pressurising the hydrogen in the electrolyser the need for an external hydrogen compressor is eliminated, the average energy consumption for internal differential pressure compression is around 3%.
…[/font][/font]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[font size=3]High-pressure electrolysis (HPE) is the electrolysis of water by decomposition of water (H₂O) into oxygen (O₂ ) and hydrogen gas (H₂ ) due to the passing of an electric current through the water. The difference with a standard proton exchange membrane electrolyzer is the compressed hydrogen output around 12–20 megapascals (120–200 bar) at 70 °C. By pressurising the hydrogen in the electrolyser the need for an external hydrogen compressor is eliminated, the average energy consumption for internal differential pressure compression is around 3%.
…[/font][/font]
http://world.honda.com/automobile-technology/SmartHydrogenStation/power_creator.html
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Power Creator: Generating High-pressure Hydrogen without a Compressor[/font]
[font size=3]A vital component of the SHS is the Power Creator, which generates high-pressure hydrogen without using a compressor.
Of its wide-range of original technologies, Honda focused on its electrolysis stack that generates hydrogen by applying electricity to electrolyte film. This method is suited to compact hydrogen stations, and utilizes Honda’s own fuel cell stack technologies.
…
To compress generated hydrogen, Honda first experimented with normal pressure electrolysis with mechanical compressors. In proof-of-concept experiments using solar power, high efficiency in a compact hydrogen station could not be attained, due to mechanical compressor power loss, and low electrolysis efficiency.
In 2010, Honda developed the Power Creator, a high-differential-pressure electrolyzer. By using a unique high-differential-pressure electrolysis stack, it was now possible to generate high-pressure hydrogen without using mechanical compressors, and without the associated losses, hydrogen could be efficiently generated using less energy. Additionally, the lack of a mechanical compressor realizes a more compact design, and quiet operation.
…
…[/font][/font]
[font size=3]A vital component of the SHS is the Power Creator, which generates high-pressure hydrogen without using a compressor.
Of its wide-range of original technologies, Honda focused on its electrolysis stack that generates hydrogen by applying electricity to electrolyte film. This method is suited to compact hydrogen stations, and utilizes Honda’s own fuel cell stack technologies.
…
To compress generated hydrogen, Honda first experimented with normal pressure electrolysis with mechanical compressors. In proof-of-concept experiments using solar power, high efficiency in a compact hydrogen station could not be attained, due to mechanical compressor power loss, and low electrolysis efficiency.
In 2010, Honda developed the Power Creator, a high-differential-pressure electrolyzer. By using a unique high-differential-pressure electrolysis stack, it was now possible to generate high-pressure hydrogen without using mechanical compressors, and without the associated losses, hydrogen could be efficiently generated using less energy. Additionally, the lack of a mechanical compressor realizes a more compact design, and quiet operation.
…
…[/font][/font]
Reality calling OKIsItJustMe;
Reality calling OKIsItJustMe....
And if we're going to quibble in that fashion we could challenge the 10% penalty on the AC via grid to either 7% (about max for long distance transmission) or to 0% for distributed on site renewables. Or we could point to the definitely non state-of-the-art 85% efficiency rating of AC-DC conversion and battery charging by pointing to solid evidence that puts that number well above 92%.
But the point is that the disparity between the amount of required carbon free generating infrastructure the two storage mediums is very, very, very large.
