Terry Blanton <[email protected]> wrote:
> As Jones mentioned, Li forms a hydride fairly easily; but, someone's > recent patent said that was his reactor fuel. :-) > Yes, I think a hydride is probably safer than pressurized gas, especially on board the vehicle. I do not recall what kind of storage the Osaka U. station had, but I think it was producing gas from water by electrolysis. That stage will be a problem no matter what the storage method is. It is basically a miniature automated hazardous fuel production facility. Bockris, Fleischmann, Mizuno and other electrochemists have worked on hydride storage systems. If Plan A is pressurized gas, and B is a hydride, I guess Plan C is to synthesize a hydrocarbon liquid fuel. I mean you start with lots of wind or solar electricity, fracture water, and then make liquid fuel. I guess that has a lot of energy overhead, but I wouldn't know. The research described by Hoffman and others is in the other direction. That is: making hydrogen starting from hydrocarbon fuel. Some years ago there was a plan to build a fuel-cell car powered by gasoline, using this method. - Jed
