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Has hydrogen storage been solved? How big would a hydrogen tank have to be to power a plane for more than an hour? And what is the conversion rate of hydrogen t
by LockAndLol 6y ago
Has hydrogen storage been solved? How big would a hydrogen tank have to be to power a plane for more than an hour? And what is the conversion rate of hydrogen to electricity?
- rsfern 6y agoHydrogen storage is definitely not a solved problem. It was a hot funding topic for the US DOE a few years ago, but sufficient energy density and operating pressures are super challenging targets to hit. Efficiency depends on fuel cell type and operating conditions and such, but I think it’s generally pretty high for the useful life of the catalyst material. (The catalyst is another materials challenge itself, since I think most of the good materials are super expensive like Pt/Pd alloys, and they’re vulnerable to carbon monoxide poisoning) Edit: this DOE program page has some good detailed discussion of the current status, including on compressed liquid/gas storage systems, which I’m not as familiar with: https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-storage-current-technology https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-storage-curre...