Posted on 11/11/2019 8:21:41 PM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
Scientists have developed a large-scale economical method to extract hydrogen (H2) from oil sands (natural bitumen) and oil fields. This can be used to power hydrogen-powered vehicles, which are already marketed in some countries, as well as to generate electricity; hydrogen is regarded as an efficient transport fuel, similar to petrol and diesel, but with no pollution problems. The process can extract hydrogen from existing oil sands reservoirs, with huge existing supplies found in Canada and Venezuela. Interestingly, this process can be applied to mainstream oil fields, causing them to produce hydrogen instead of oil.
Hydrogen powered vehicles, including cars, buses, and trains, have been in development for many years. These vehicles have been acknowledged to be efficient, but the high price of extracting the Hydrogen from oil reserves has meant that the technology has not been economically viable. Now a group of Canadian engineers have developed a cheap method of extracting H2 from oil sands. They are presenting this work at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Barcelona.
“There are vast oil sand reservoirs in several countries, with huge fields in Alberta in Canada, but also in Venezuela and other countries” said Dr. Ian Gates, of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Calgary, and of Proton Technologies Inc.).
Oil fields, even abandoned oil fields, still contain significant amounts of oil. The researchers have found that injecting oxygen into the fields raises the temperature and liberates H2, which can then be separated from other gases via specialist filters. Hydrogen is not pre-existing in the reservoirs, but pumping oxygen means that the reaction to form hydrogen can take place.
Grant Strem, CEO of Proton Technologies which is commercializing the process says “This technique can draw up huge quantities of hydrogen while leaving the carbon in the ground. When working at production level, we anticipate we will be able to use the existing infrastructure and distribution chains to produce H2 for between 10 and 50 cents per kilo. This means it potentially costs a fraction of gasoline for equivalent output”. This compares with current H2 production costs of around $2/kilo. Around 5% of the H2 produced then powers the oxygen production plant, so the system more than pays for itself.
There is no comparison with the Hindenburg!
Scared of hydrogen, but you are not scared of GASOLINE?
Ever seen videos of propane explosions? The shock wave looks like a nuclear detonation. (or nucular for you W fans).
Here is the recent hydrogen station explosion in Norway aftermath.
https://electrek.co/2019/06/11/hydrogen-station-explodes-toyota-halts-sales-fuel-cell-cars/
BIG DEAL! A gasoline or propane explosion would have been exponentially worse.
Actually it wasn’t an explosion.
“On 10 June 2019, a hydrogen filling station in Norway caught fire. While several media talked about an explosion, the electrolyzer manufacturer involved, Nel, stated that leaked hydrogen gas caught fire in the open air, causing a shock wave.”
https://www.h2-international.com/2019/10/13/fire-at-an-h2-station-in-norway/#more-6313
“Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric cars are safe. Don’t believe scared people. They are not going to burst into a cloud of fire every time you hit a curb. And they will protect you quite well in case you do get in an accident.”
“The train is made of fuel cells that create electricity through chemical reactions that are made by hydrogen molecules that are found in water. This means that it does not emit any carbon dioxide, only water droplets and steam. You also do not need to worry about its speed because this new train can run at 140 km per hour.”
http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/24051/20191014/hydrogen-train.htm
Hydrogen as a viable fuel is a reality.
gee, such hostility ... obviously i meant electrolysis ...
https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-electrolysis
https://www.google.com/search?q=water+electricity+hydrogen+oxygen
Being a realist as well as a pessimist I don’t see this as saving consumers a nickel. It will never come to pass unless the public can be dependent on the fuel source and the industry and government can charge and tax enough to keep us in check.
The bonus, the truly good thing is that in addition to an endless supply of hydrogen, oxygen is produced as a by product.
Sorry, I was grouchy. I had been arguing facts vs feelings in another forum and my fuse was short. I am sure you meant electrolysis and not the hair removal kind. ;-)
Actually the article addressed O2 production. They claim 5% of the hydrogen produced would be enough to power all O2 production required so it would just be the capital outlay for the O2 plant. I looked at cost and O2 plants don’t look particularly capital intensive. I think the bigger cost would be compressing and storing the hydrogen hence my suggestion for producing electricity from it very close to where it would be produced. IMHO it would only make sense in tar sands and tapped out fields because oil and natural gas are king and queen of easily transportable BTU’s with coal being prince.
“Sorry, I was grouchy. I had been arguing facts vs feelings in another forum and my fuse was short. I am sure you meant electrolysis and not the hair removal kind. ;-)”
10-4
i have noticed that your posts are usually pretty balanced ...
Thanks... I try not to be an ahole but sometimes... I can not help but don my bear shirt and go berserker mode.
“... raises the temperature ...”
Is this some kind of combustion underground?
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