Posted on 02/03/2021 10:58:55 AM PST by Jonty30
Fraunhofer researchers have presented a magnesium-based "Powerpaste" that stores hydrogen energy at 10 times the density of a lithium battery, offering hydrogen fuel cell vehicles the ability to travel further than gasoline-powered ones, and refuel in minutes.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
That would seem to be the weak point in commercializing this.
But it does solve one of the bigger problems of hydrogen, how to store it without losing most of it over time.
I don’t know, but my teeth have never been whiter.
A highly flammable gas, being stored in a flammable metal......what possibly could go wrong?
Battery powered cars are just an interim between ICE vehicles and Hydrogen powered vehicles.
Wikischmicki:
“Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and the fourth most common element in the Earth (after iron, oxygen and silicon), making up 13% of the planet’s mass and a large fraction of the planet’s mantle.”
Magnesium and Hydrogen - doesn’t sound like a winning combination. Magnesium is the fire that you can’t put out, and hydrogen - well, how did that work out for the Hindenburg?
Magnesium is common. Not a “rare earth” element.
Let not your heart be troubled!!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium
Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust[11] and the fourth most common element in the Earth (after iron, oxygen and silicon), making up 13% of the planet’s mass and a large fraction of the planet’s mantle. It is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater, after sodium and chlorine.[12]
To be fair, hydrogen and magnesium are both pretty common elements. It would be accurate to say they’re all around us.
Despite that, we’re not all on fire...at least not yet.
IIRC, in the very early 70s my husband trialed hydrogen fuel in a couple of trucks I think for something the U of M was working on. It was determined that due the the explosive nature of the stuff that it wouldn’t be safe for vehicles.
This is actually a significant development. The energy density of gasoline is over 13,000 BTUs per kilogram. The energy density of the most powerful lithium ion batteries is just over 700 BTUs per kilogram. Multiply 700 by 10 times and you’re halfway to the power required to replace gasoline as the ultimate source of energy in the vehicle. This still does nothing to address energy infrastructure requirements necessary to supporting this technology; after all, the electricity still has to come from somewhere, but it does make the prospect of an all electric vehicle a more viable proposition; granting that all the price and production intricacies work out to something affordable for the consumer. And that may be a very tall order. We shall see
“Magnesium is the fire that you can’t put out, and hydrogen”
My chemistry set when I was a kid had a bottle of magnesium powder. Wow! Fun! I ordered several replacement bottles.
I’m sure today’s chemistry sets don’t have that stuff. Might burn the itty bitty fingers.
Gasoline is highly flammable, as I know from personal experience. This can’t make it much worse.
Spackle does the same thing.
Sounds like a tank full of gasoline
Then there will be a HazMat charge for exchanging the new cartridge for a old cartridge with its residue.
And while the new cartridge can be installed in "minutes," anticipate spending at least half a day filling out forms for approval, getting fingerprinted and photographed, and paying a license fee to transport and store in your car the cartridges of hydrogen gas with "10 times the energy of a similar weight in lithium batteries, and substantially more than a 700-bar H2 tank of the same weight," which will be identified as an "explosive device."
LOL
Magnesium is a little tricky to refine as a metal, but it has been successfully used on the making of lightweight components in certain applications in aircraft. However, it has a most unfortunate trait of bursting into flame and burning to magnesium oxide, MgO, with a great deal of heat.
Most forms of magnesium will be in some chemical compound, It is an analog of calcium, and is found in calcium compound deposits, like limestone, so it is fairly abundant in nature. Magnesium is also one of the vital elements that make up the micronutrients of your body.
Popular Science proposed using magnesium metal plates to produce hydrogen to power automobiles back in the 1970’s. Don’t remember if they were to power fuel cells or an internal combustion engine. If it was for an engine hydrogen embrittlement would be a problem.
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