Luke,
there was a documentary done on the Hinderburg that I saw out of total
fluke one day on TV. They showed tests of the material covering and
documents from the engineers about concerns over the material used.
I am reading about electrolysis and other methods at the moment, looking
at running my alternate fuel test lawnmower on a Hyd/Oxy mix. I have
already almost blown the head off it using a different system. :) Good
fun.
Craig.
Luke Clough wrote:
>
> Craig,
>
> I'd always thought the photos of the hindenburg looked odd for hydrogen, the flame
>was
> too bright, more consistant with the colors metals make when you stick them in the
> flame of a bunsen. Also the light hydrogen should have rushed upward when released so
> any fire ball should also rush upward. The hydrogen filled balloons we set alight
>back
> in high school had no visable flame, and the heat haze signature rose very rapidly.
>
> Hydrogen storage is important for the development of hydrogen as a fuel for cars.
>It's
> a matter of what comes first the chicken or the egg. Fuel won't be at the bowser
>until
> there are cars that can take it. Current storage practices include compressed gas,
> liquified (as found in space shuttle boosters), or metal hydrides (where hydrogen
> molecules are stored through absorbtion in metal powders. Personally I wouldn't want
> liquified hydrogen or compressed gas bottles letting go in an accident . Metal
> Hydrides give the highest kJ/Litre storage, about 50% more than the liquified storage
> medium but are very heavy, still they have further room for development both in
> kJ/Litre and kJ/kg whereas liquified doesn't. I'm quite sure internal combustion
> engines can be relatively easily be produced for hydrogen. The major stubling block
>in
> the past has been the storage aspect, and a cheap source of electricity to produce
>it.
>
> As for the use of fossil fuels to produce hydrogen, it takes less energy to produce
>it
> from fossil fuels than water, and fossil fuels provided a denser storage medium for
> the hydrogen. It varies between fossil fuels but one fossil fuel molecule can store
> enough hydrogen for many H2 molecules. However hydrogen isn't renewable until we are
> producing it from water. If we are to go down the Fuel Cell/Electric motor path then
> the hydrogen storage issue becomes a competition with batteries. kJ/kg, kJ/Litre and
> efficiency ( best practice water to hydrogen is about 60-70% efficient at the moment,
> combined with the 70% or so efficiency of fuel cells) become the issue as the
>hydrogen
> is simply acting as a stable storage medium for the electricity energy that was used
> to seperate the water.
>
> Should be very interesting over the next twenty odd years!
>
> Craig Overend wrote:
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