Many folks would like to see us back on the Moon and developing its resources.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Hydrogen solid storage - Are we going to hear more about this?

Note: A number of links are now dead as Ovonic Hydrogen Systems has been acquired by BASIF and there are some patent disputes. 09/24/15
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobasys
- LRK -

Hydrogen and Oxygen, burned to make a lot of hot steam to provide
thrust for a rocket - to where?
Well, that is a question yet to be answered.

Getting back to a more down to Earth use of Hydrogen, we hear about
using Hydrogen to fuel cars.
It is hard to compress and store hydrogen and finding ways to make it
easier for the everyday person to use Hydrogen in a fuel cell would be
good.
Hydrogen solid storage - Are we going to hear more about this?

Google started a new service, "BUZZ" and I was looking at some posts
by folks on my Gmail List.
I noticed a comment about a video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
- where it talks about a way to make Hydrogen in your home and store
it in a solid form that can be used to free up Hydrogen to use in a
fuel cell that in turn can produce electricity to run a motor.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2010/02/07/lustout.hk.hydrogen.car.cnn

If you watch the video you will see the products from the company,
Horizon, and a demo of using stored Hydrogen in a small radio
controlled car.

Here are a link to information about the 'HYDROSTIK' refillable
solid-state hydrogen cartridges, the 'HYDROFILL' home hydrogen
refueling unit for the HydroSTIK, and a MiniPAK "Personal Power
Center", that can be used to recharge our many electronic gadgets.

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http://www.horizonfuelcell.com/electronics.htm

HYDROSTIK - The fuel cartridge used in the MiniPak called HydroSTIK
has a battery-like form factor and contains a special metal alloy that
allows hydrogen to be stored in a solid-state, as part of the metal
alloy matrix inside the cartridge. In contrast with ordinary
compressed hydrogen tanks, the pressure inside the canister is very
low, making this device the safest and most practical means of storing
hydrogen. The HydroSTIK has the additional advantages of being
refillable (from pressurized gas bottles, or from water-electrolysis
based devices), non-toxic, eco-friendly, and competitive on
cost/performance with existing battery devices. Each HydroSTIK can
store 15Wh of energy, enough for 2 to 3 charges of a 3G smartphone, or
4-6 charges for average cellphones, which is more than what present
primary and rechargeable batteries are able to offer at equivalent
cost.

HYDROFILL - The HydroFILL is a "world-first" small-scale home hydrogen
station that allows consumers or retailers/distributors to refill
solid state canisters in a simple way, using water and electricity as
only input. By adding water, and plugging the HydroFILL into a
electrical wall-socket (or a solar panel), consumers can generate
hydrogen and store it in a solid form automatically in HydroSTIK
cartrridges. Once full, the battery-like "solid-state"HydroSTIKs can
be unplugged from the HydroFILL and placed into the MiniPak (or other
fuel cell devices) to deliver power via a USB port.

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And this is about a company in the USA that has a number of 'Green'
products including storing Hydrogen in a solid form.
http://www.ovonic.com/pdfs/new_fuel_cell_presentation.pdf
http://ovonics.com/
- LRK -

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http://www.ovonic.com/PDFs/featured_solutions/ovonic_hydrogen_fueled_car_092805.pdf
Hydrogen Hybrid Vehicle Powered With Ovonic® Solid State Hydrogen Storage

A practical first step on the road to a hydrogen-fueled future
Rochester Hills, Mich., September 21, 2005

There is no doubt that hydrogen is one of the most promising fuels of
the future. The only remaining questions are how and when America’s
transportation fleet will make the leap to this clean, renewable
energy carrier. Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD Ovonics)
(NASDAQ: ENER) is convinced that the when is soon and the how is by
means of a methodical transition from today’s fossil-fueled vehicles
to cars and trucks engineered for hydrogen propulsion. To take a long
stride forward on this path, ECD Ovonics and its partners
successfully completed a demonstration project to modify a commercial
gasoline/electric hybrid vehicle to run on hydrogen utilizing a new
low-pressure, metal hydride hydrogen storage system developed and
manufactured by Ovonic Hydrogen Systems, LLC.

snip
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Some more information just to make sure the word gets out that there
are ways to store Hydrogen that may prove to be useful to the general
public.
- LRK -

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http://ovonics.com/ib_hy_hydrogen_portablecanisters.cfm

Ovonic Hydrogen Systems is proud to be the first manufacturer of metal
hydride storage systems authorized by the US Department of
Transportation (DOT) to offer a family of portable canisters that can
be transported with hydrogen. This authorization allows ready-to-use
charged canisters to be shipped to and transported by you and your
customers. A copy of our DOT special permit must accompany shipment of
the canisters.

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This next link contains information from 2005 and before. It takes
time for new technologies to make it to market and of course there
needs to be a market.
Electric cars have been around since the beginning of car history but
they have not made it to the mass market. Now we have been seeing the
high price of oil and gasoline so the Hybrid car is gaining
acceptance. There is more talk about using Hydrogen as a fuel but
handling Hydrogen presents problems, if not real, at least in the
public eye. You have watched the shuttle launches with fueling of LOX
and un-filling when something isn't just right. Even if using gaseous
Hydrogen there is the problem of storing enough in a car's tanking
system to have a suitable range. Storing Hydrogen in a solid state
looks interesting. Will we hear more about it?
- LRK -

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http://www.greencar.com/articles/ovonic-h2-prius-showcases-solid-hydrogen-storage-technology.php
Ovonic H2 Prius Showcases Solid Hydrogen Storage Technology

As the “hydrogen highway” vision takes form through incremental
technology advancements and demonstrations on many levels, much of the
glory is captured by hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. It’s true that
they’re marvels of technology and are deserving of this attention. As
shared in Green Car Journal’s Summer 2005 issue (“Hydrogen/Where We
Are on the Drive to the Future”), automakers have come a long way and
these vehicles are so good, they make it seem effortless to drive on
this most environmentally positive fuel. But that’s far from the case.

snip
Stanford Ovshinsky
This story begins and ends with Stanford Ovshinsky, an inventor of
rarified stature who, many decades ago, made discoveries involving
amorphous and disordered materials that created a whole new area of
materials science. He was recognized with a Time Magazine “Heroes of
the Planet Award” because of this work and how it led to many
breakthrough applications, including his patented nickel-metal-hydride
batteries (he and the company he founded, Rochester Hills,
Michigan-based Energy Conversion Devices, hold the patents). As it
turns out, this work has also led to the ability to store hydrogen in
solid form at low pressure, a technology being developed by ECD
business unit Ovonic Hydrogen Systems.

This is no small thing. Before we can buy a hydrogen-fueled vehicle in
the showroom, some big technical hurdles need to be overcome in the
lab, and one of the biggest is hydrogen storage. A hydrogen vehicle’s
range depends directly on how efficiently this fuel can be converted
to motive power and, more fundamentally, how much fuel can be stored
on-board. Range will be especially important in the early years of
hydrogen vehicle commercialization since a refueling infrastructure
will still be in its infancy.
snip

Then there’s the approach offered by Ovonic Hydrogen Systems’ solid
hydrogen storage, a concept so clever and intriguing it seems
improbable…yet it works. A tank containing powdered metal alloys is
filled with hydrogen at a relatively low 1,500 psi. Removing heat
during the process causes the metal to absorb hydrogen like a sponge,
and a new material called a metal hydride is created. Hydrogen stored
in solid form like this is in a safer state and can be stored within a
tank at a lower 250 psi. On-board systems determine when hydrogen is
needed by an engine or fuel cell, providing heat to reverse the
process so gaseous hydrogen is released from the hydride and into the
fuel system. In an interesting phenomenon, a greater volume of
hydrogen can be stored in the same size cylinder with metal alloy than
without it, a consideration that provides better driving range.

snip
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Well there you go. Happy tanking. If you don't see this again, maybe
one will need to look into who controls our energy sources.
Just an added thought, could we use some Hydrogen solid storage tanks
at a Lunar Base?
Ooops, maybe I shouldn't be thinking such Lunar Thoughts.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/03/62722
Hydrogen: Less Bang for the Buck
John Gartner Email 03.19.04

The Department of Energy says that switching from gasoline- to
hydrogen-fueled cars is an important way to ensure national security
by reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But the thought of driving
a vehicle that contains a highly pressurized hydrogen tank could make
some drivers uneasy.

To reduce the risk of accidentally releasing hydrogen that could
ignite and cause an explosion, scientists have developed new storage
systems that "sponge" up the gaseous hydrogen and store it inside
metal as a solid.

Many of the fuel cell cars in development store hydrogen as a gas in
tanks pressurized from 5,000 to 10,000 pounds per square inch,
requiring reinforced tanks and special nozzles to prevent hydrogen
from escaping into the air. This also puts a strain on the hydrogen
tanks and valves, said Jeffrey Schmidt, a systems engineer at Energy
Conversion Devices, or ECD.

"A minute leak could at 5,000 psi put a lot of hydrogen into the air,"
said Schmidt.

ECD has developed a metal-hydride storage system that "sponges"
gaseous hydrogen so that it is contained within a solid material,
which Schmidt says reduces the risk of serious accidents and allows
more hydrogen to be stored in the vehicle.

ECD's Ovonic solid hydrogen storage system absorbs about 6 pounds of
hydrogen into a metal hydride and produces hydrogen on demand to feed
a fuel cell or internal combustion engine.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.physorg.com/news126355316.html
More Solid than Solid: A Potential Hydrogen-Storage Compound
April 2, 2008 More solid than solid: A potential hydrogen-storage compound

MOF-74 resembles a series of tightly packed straws comprised mostly of
carbon atoms (white balls) with columns of zinc ions (blue balls)
running down the walls. Heavy hydrogen molecules (green balls)
adsorbed in MOF-74 pack into the tubes more densely than they would in
solid form. Credit: NIST

A research team from NIST, the University of Maryland and the
California Institute of Technology studied metal-organic frameworks
(MOFs). One of several classes of materials that can bind and release
hydrogen under the right conditions, they have some distinct
advantages over competitors. In principle they could be engineered so
that refueling is as easy as pumping gas at a service station is
today, and MOFs don’t require the high temperatures (110 to 500 C)
some other materials need to release hydrogen.

In particular, the team examined MOF-74, a porous crystalline powder
developed at the University of California at Los Angeles. MOF-74
resembles a series of tightly packed straws comprised of mostly carbon
atoms with columns of zinc ions running down the inside walls. A gram
of the stuff has about the same surface area as two basketball courts.

The researchers used neutron scattering and gas adsorption techniques
to determine that at 77 K (-196 C), MOF-74 can adsorb more hydrogen
than any unpressurized framework structure studied to date—packing the
molecules in more densely than they would be if frozen in a block.

NCNR scientist Craig Brown says that, though his team doesn’t
understand exactly what allows the hydrogen to bond in this fashion,
they think the zinc center has some interesting properties.

snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

==============================================================

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