A Basic – and Slightly Acidic – Solution for Hydrogen Storage
http://science.energy.gov/news/in-focus/2012/03-19-12/[font size=5]A Basic – and Slightly Acidic – Solution for Hydrogen Storage[/font]
[font size=4]Brookhaven Lab creates a new catalyst with real possibilities in clean energy.[/font]
[font size=3]Sometimes, solutions for hard problems can turn out to be pretty basic. That's especially true for a team of researchers at the Office of Science's Brookhaven National Laboratory (Brookhaven Lab), where the solution for a hard problem they were working on turned out to be pretty basic…and also a bit acidic.
The hard problem they were working on was how to store hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen gas (H2) is a clean and powerful fuel, but it's also extremely light, which makes it difficult and costly to store. It's typically held in high pressure tanks, although researchers at another Office of Science lab recently found a possible way to keep it in naturally-formed frozen cages.
In a paper published yesterday (Sunday, March 18th) in Nature Chemistry, researchers at Brookhaven Lab led by chemist Etsuko Fujita announced that they had found a safe and reversible way to store hydrogen under mild (and therefore hopefully much more economical) conditions, using a newly developed catalyst.
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The catalyst created by researchers at Brookhaven Lab connects hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide, "storing" the hydrogen linked to (adduct to) carbon dioxide in a mildly basic solution. The reaction can be reversed – and the hydrogen fuel released – by adding a bit of acid. The entire process can be run, and easily reversed, in a watery solution under mild temperatures and pressures with no toxic byproducts, and at a faster rate than any previous catalyst.
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I'm all excited about the various energy storage and transport solutions on the horizon...
And methanol?
You do understand that just about damn near everything could technically be used as a fuel....since just about damn near anything has carbon in it.
But last I checked, methanol wasn't a widely used fuel....because obviously there are some better alternatives.
Just because it burns, it doesn't make it a useful fuel.
BTW, I have actually made an attempt to 'dose' my car's intake with hydrogen, with a home-made on-board electrolysis device vented into the intake...it screwed up the O2 sensor input to the PCM, and actually kept the injectors open longer, pulsing more fuel, and giving me worse mileage. So, I failed at that...but I mention it to point out that I am indeed curious about alternative fuels...but when one proves to be non-workable, its best to let it go.
And you know what? Most people have let it go. The hysteria, grant money, and media stories about hydrogen have all but dried up.
I'll tell you another story. I am experimenting with propane right now. I live in the mid-west, where its currently cheap...and the pressures involved don't scare me. I think I'm going to get it to work fairly flawlessly...its great. But, I know its not the fuel of the future. It never can be, because it is the byproduct of refining other things, like natural gas. I.e., if there were large scale propane demand as a vehicle fuel, excess natural gas would have to be produced...which leads to the question - why not just use natural gas as a fuel? BTW, the same goes for methane and hydrogen....just products of a reaction involving a true 'fuel', like coal or natural gas.
I do believe natural gas will quietly become our fuel of the future. There are self service stations in my community right now, conversion kits are available, large-scale conversions have been used in Europe for over a decade now, and its currently cheap relative to gasoline, when energy output is compared. I anticipate the smaller vehicles will concentrate on small engines, and re-capture of electric energy, like the Prius...but bigger vehicles will rely more and more on natural gas.
I've just realized I've written quite a long response to a snarky comment...which has become a pattern here. For some reason I just have to set people straight. There are alot of armchair experts, who just know everything. All the while, I am a real life tinkerer, experimenter, licensed engineer, with a strong background in physics, and a reluctant background in chemistry, LEED accredited....and a part time auto mechanic to boot.
But I'm just silly around here 
Hydrogen is also a “powerful fuel.”
The repeated claim that Hydrogen is not a fuel is quite simply nonsense.
That’s why I referred to it as “a silly meme.”
We can debate as to whether or not it makes sense to store energy as hydrogen, but it is undeniably a fuel.
