4 ms·
I used to be very excited about the iron cycle when the first news about that brewery appeared. But these days I wonder how useful it really is, as an energy st
by usrusr 3y ago
I used to be very excited about the iron cycle when the first news about that brewery appeared. But these days I wonder how useful it really is, as an energy store? Won't it start oxidating at room temperature unless kept in inert atmosphere? And if that's a requirement, is it really that much less trouble than plain H2 or some gaseous or liquid intermediate?
- moffkalast 3y agoThe trouble level for H2 is reasonably high, so it could very well be less.
- csours 3y agoYes, and gasoline will evaporate, natural gas will disperse, etc. It's kept in a container until they burn it.
- usrusr 3y agoSure, but liquids and gases are routinely handled in vessels with a maintenance interval of "never" on the inside, I'm not so sure that could be transferred to a powder. But this might be my lack of knowledge of existing processes in "powdery industries" speaking, if those are solved problems there I would not know. Your mention of gasoline evaporating made me realize that some of the iron oxidating is probably not all that bad, just make sure that there's no ventilation continuously swapping in fresh air. I guess I'm looking forward to the next iron age!
- csours 3y agoHandling iron particulate is well-established technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZHpeBubb_M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZHpeBubb_M Note that this is about when it goes wrong, but also that it is usually due to cost-cutting measures.
- thsksbd 3y agoThere's the kinetics of oxygen transport into a big pile of iron powder. If that's not good enough, you can always transport it in a closed container with a block of dry ice. You don't even have to seal it, just change the chemical potential of O2 in Fe.