Posted on 01/29/2021 7:51:26 PM PST by BenLurkin
Seawater makes up about 96% of all water on earth, making it a tempting resource to meet the world’s growing need for clean drinking water and carbon-free energy. And scientists already have the technical ability to both desalinate seawater and split it to produce hydrogen, which is in demand as a source of clean energy.
But existing methods require multiple steps performed at high temperatures over a lengthy period of time in order to produce a catalyst with the needed efficiency. That requires substantial amounts of energy and drives up the cost.
Researchers from the University of Houston have reported an oxygen evolving catalyst that takes just minutes to grow at room temperature on commercially available nickel foam. Paired with a previously reported hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst, it can achieve industrially required current density for overall seawater splitting at low voltage. The work is described in a paper published in Energy & Environmental Science.
Zhifeng Ren, director of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH (TcSUH) and corresponding author for the paper, said speedy, low-cost production is critical to commercialization.
To address both cost and stability, the researchers discovered a process to use nickel-iron-(oxy)hydroxide on nickel foam, doped with a small amount of sulfur to produce an effective catalyst at room temperature within five minutes. Working at room temperature both reduced the cost and improved mechanical stability, they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at scitechdaily.com ...
We might need it when the Progs get rid of refrigeration to save the environment.
Burning hydrogen creates H2O.
Eat it. Sea salt is much tastier than mined salt. I use sea salt in my food all the time.
Mined salt is ancient sea salt.
Agree. Its already happening with greenhouses where water efficiencies are so great that they can stand expensive desalinated water. Examples of this are on the coast of Spain where a desalination plant was installed in 2014 to provide freshwater for the thousands of greenhouses in the altamira desert along the mediterranean coast just east of gibralter. There are smaller operations using desalinated seawater for greenhouses in Australia, the persian gulf and singapore.
Basic thermodynamics isn’t important in many/most Green Energy schemas.
Mineral free water is more corrosive in general; and, tends to leach minerals from bones and teeth if consumed.
If we had a stream of pure hydrogen available for energy purposes, there are perfectly good fuel cells that would yield three times the mechanical energy, as burning it in an IC engine. Hydrogen is an energy medium, not an energy source.
i didn't think of that...and you're right. Adding minerals back into desalinated sea water is about more than just taste.
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