Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
The real problem, though (and I'm not the first to point this out) is not the production of hydrogen, it's transport and storage. To get anything like a useful amount, you have to either compress it to extreme pressure, or liquify it. Both of those take lots of energy, which is not recovered in use.
To add to the problems, pressurized hydrogen diffuses into, and through, almost anything, often causing hydrogen embrittlement on the way. Liquid hydrogen needs continual refrigeration, or it evaporates.
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Yes, you can compress and liquify it, or you can entrap it in absorptive hydride storage schemes, but my favorite is the simple expedient of bonding with carbon. Yes, synthetic hydrocarbons. Methane being the simplest. Transport and storage becomes trivial since we already handle those compounds. And yes, you can use carbon from the biosphere to mitigate global warming. With a hydrocarbon, you now have more energy potential when you use the fuel in a solid oxide fuel cell or in the up and coming enzymatic fuel cells.
I am certain there are other storage/transport schemes in hidden laboratories. We will have to see what the future reveals. But there is no reason to abandon hydrocarbons as our transport and storage energy carrier.