5 ms·
Only if you ignore the cost and poor end to end efficiency. The reason there is no distribution system is that the vast majority of hydrogen is consumed where i
by jillesvangurp 4y ago
Only if you ignore the cost and poor end to end efficiency. The reason there is no distribution system is that the vast majority of hydrogen is consumed where it is produced. It's just very hard and expensive to move hydrogen around. Most hydrogen is used to produce ammonia for the purpose of creating fertilizers.
If you consider the whole chain of energy conversions, hydrogen has a very poor efficiency:
- electrolysis to split water; or super heated steam to split methane. 30%-40%: at best.
- compressing it for transport at typically 300bar: not sure; but it isn't free (theromdynamics). And also, some of the hydrogen is likely to slip away. Let's be generous and call it 80%
- transporting it by truck or via pipes takes more energy. Also hydrogen trucks have a pretty pathetic energy density compared to e.g. a truck load of diesel. You need a lot of trucks. Which need fuel (and let's assume that is hydrogen) At about 18:1 ratio. And some more of it slips away. So, let's be generous again and call that 95% efficient.
- fueling the car/truck uses compressors, pumps and cooling (expanding gases produce heat). This too is not free.
- finally you have the choice of using it in a fuel cell at 70-80% efficiency or burning it in a combustion engine; which is more like 40% efficiency.
If you multiply all of that you end up with the reason why using hydrogen for transport is an absolute last resort because of all the energy losses that you still have to pay for.
25% efficient would be pretty good. It's probably much worse than that. Some of it might be fixable but the laws of thermodynamics just aren't very flexible. There is no magical solution to many of these inefficiencies.
So 4x the fuel cost, or drive an electrical truck. Easy choice for a lot of companies. Especially if they can generate their own cheap power.
- _hypx 4y agoElectrolysis can be 95% efficient: https://newatlas.com/energy/hysata-efficient-hydrogen-electrolysis/ https://newatlas.com/energy/hysata-efficient-hydrogen-electr...