Posted on 03/02/2019 5:46:08 PM PST by rktman
Roger Gordon’s plans for ammonia could be a central component of a carbon-free future.
Advocates of America’s Green New Deal or other radical efforts to decarbonize the world economy in the face of a looming climate crisis may well have one of their greatest champions in a rumpled 65-year-old who lives in the Toronto suburbs.
Roger Gordon wears a navy wool coat that extends well past the bottom of his green knit sweater on a chilly day in February. He talks with a quintessentially Canadian politeness as he rails against what he sees as a massive conspiracy to suppress his life’s work — which could amount to a fuel revolution.
Ammonia has been used as both an alternative fuel source and a surplus energy storage mechanism since the 1800s, and while its production is far less damaging to the environment than traditional oil and gas, it’s not without its pollutants. In order to create NH3, the ammonia-based fuel, one would have to build a massive production facility that still burns large quantities of fossil fuels and releases significant amounts of carbon in the production process.
(Excerpt) Read more at ozy.com ...
Wouldn’t want to be around when there is a leak. Like refueling.
They will probably decide to put the production plant in a small town to minimize the collateral damage when the plant blows up.
Just off the top of my head...
1) It’s an energy storage media, not an energy source. It’s like a battery.
2) I’m pretty sure ammonia has a lower energy density than gasoline, so you’ll need more gallons to drive the same distance.
3) Toxic and nasty.
Yellow New Deal?
“face of a looming climate crisis”
For the first time in recorded history it never got above 70 in LA last February. This looming crises?
But, but, but, isn’t ammonia all safe and stuff like hydrogen? /s
Mighty short on details on how to convert a combustion engine from diesel to NH3. And what about harmful NOx gases?
First they force us to have ethanol in our gas and now urine. I don’t know how much more I can take.
I worked in a shipyard years ago and we were repairing a barge that had ruptured one of the wing tanks and had been transporting ammonia. I stepped over an open access hatch and almost went down the leaked ammonia in the wing tank was so strong. Nas T stuff.
Farmers inject it directly into the soil as fertilizer.
Nobody forces me to have ethanol in my urine. That’s completely voluntary on my part.
Well . . . since you put it that way.
Ammonia is a very toxic poison.
And it promotes pyrotechnics.
Takes energy to produce energy and you lose energy each time you convert.
Who’s buying?
CC
Olog has more money than me. I’m on the lam.
The combustion of ammonia in air is very difficult in the absence of a catalyst (such as platinum gauze or warm chromium(III) oxide), because the temperature of the flame is usually lower than the ignition temperature of the ammonia–air mixture. That is funny -- the flame temperature is lower than the ignition temperature!
Although common in nature and in wide use, ammonia is both caustic and hazardous in its concentrated form. It is classified as an extremely hazardous substance in the United States, and is subject to strict reporting requirements by facilities which produce, store, or use it in significant quantities. Have you ever smelled a strong molar solution of ammonia? It is awful. It's also
NH3 boils at −28 °F / 1 atm pressure, so the liquid must be stored under pressure or at low temperature. It is lighter than air. It is easily liquefied due to the strong hydrogen bonding between molecule.
Smelling salts, also known as ammonia inhalants, spirit of hartshorn or sal volatile, are chemical compounds often used to arouse consciousness. Maybe he could design a system to send a whiff to the driver if he gets drowsy.
VERDICT -- DOA
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