A good look at Hydrogen
An interesting 35 page PDF paper on
Hydrogen and its use as fuel.
Energy and the Hydrogen Economy
Abstract
Between production and use any commercial product is subject to the following processes: packaging, transportation, storage and transfer. The same is true for hydrogen in a “Hydrogen Economy”. Hydrogen has to be packaged by compression or liquefaction, it has to be transported by surface vehicles or pipelines, it has to be stored and transferred. Generated by electrolysis or chemistry, the fuel gas has to go through these market procedures before it can be used by the customer, even if it is produced locally at filling stations. As there are no environmental or energetic advantages in producing hydrogen from natural gas or other hydrocarbons, we do not consider this option, although hydrogen can be chemically synthesized at relative low cost.
In the past, hydrogen production and hydrogen use have been addressed by many, assuming that hydrogen gas is just another gaseous energy carrier and that it can be handled much like natural gas in today’s energy economy. With this study we present an analysis of the energy required to operate a pure hydrogen economy. High-grade electricity from renewable or nuclear sources is needed not only to generate hydrogen, but also for all other essential steps of a hydrogen economy. But because of the molecular structure of hydrogen, a hydrogen infrastructure is much more energy-intensive than a natural gas economy.
The upshot is that it is more efficient to add carbon to the hydrogen and make gasoline (iso-octane) than it is to transport the hydrogen and use it in a vehicle. If you try to use Hydrogen in a vehicle, the overall expenses are much higher than expected...
Posted by DaveH at March 22, 2007 5:22 PM