Friday, November 30, 2007

Hydrogen Engine

Some have theorized that in the future hydrogen might replace such fuels. Furthermore, with the introduction of hydrogen fuel cell technology, the use of internal combustion engines may be phased out. The advantage of hydrogen is that its combustion produces only water. This is unlike the combustion of fossil fuels, which produce carbon dioxide, a known green house gas GHG, carbon monoxide resulting from incomplete combustion, and other local and atmospheric pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that lead to urban respiratory problems, acid rain, and ozone gas problems. However, free hydrogen for fuel does not occur naturally, burning it liberates less energy than it takes to produce hydrogen in the first place due to the second law of thermodynamics.
Although there are multiple ways of producing free hydrogen, those require converting combustible molecules into hydrogen, so hydrogen does not solve any energy crisis, moreover, it only addresses the issue of portability and some pollution issues. The disadvantage of hydrogen in many situations is its storage. Liquid hydrogen has extremely low density- 14 times lower than water and requires extensive insulation, whilst gaseous hydrogen requires heavy tankage. Although hydrogen has a higher specific energy, the volumetric energetic storage is still roughly five times lower than petrol, even when liquified. (The 'Hydrogen on Demand' process, designed by Steven Amendola, creates hydrogen as it is needed, but has other issues, such as the high price of the sodium borohydride, the raw material. Sodium borohydride is renewable and could become cheaper if more widely produced.)

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