New Way To Produce Hydrogen Discovered

Well this should get things stirred up in the 'hydrogen as fuel' circles.

It may be a "new" way but it probably costs more to produce the aluminum used to make it than it would cost to make the hydrogen some other way.

Drillbabydrill

It may be a "new" way but it probably costs more to produce the aluminum used to make it than it would cost to make the hydrogen some other way.

Or, after being optimized, aluminum might serve as a more efficient energy storage medium than alternatives like batteries, metal hydrides, organic fuels, etc. We won't know unless this application of aluminum is thoroughly explored. Of course it takes energy to recycle the aluminum, and the overall process is less that 100% efficient, but this is true of all energy storage media (as guaranteed by the second law of thermodynamics). And don't forget the factors of safety and convenience -- aluminum powder is nontoxic, lightweight, and requires no high pressures or high temperatures during use. Aluminum is also the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust, so we will never have a shortage.

The real trick is going to be for the researchers to figure out an easy way to convert the aluminum hydroxide that's left over from the reaction back into pure aluminum with the special physical structure that allowed the reaction to happen in the first place. Sort of like a miniature aluminum refining plant in place of batteries to store energy in a hybrid scheme for a hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system.

I can just see the creative minds that will produce the next mileage improving gimmick winding up over this one. How about little funny looking aluminum pellets that you buy for $29.95 and drop into your gas tank to "hydrogenate" your gas?

Ed Weldon

It would be interesting to see what they could do with the different stages of the oxygen created. It will occur in several states not only O2. While splitting water you will have O, O3. and O2 were the O and O3 would be the most unstable but most reactive.

I wonder if they are thinking to use this potential energy and harness it in its intermediate state. O and O3 would enhance the combustibility if harnessed at the right time (before it does the O2 forming). So would H2O2 if allowed to form (which it should). It seems to me, that by not using the O byproducts but only H2, they are not utilizing the process to its fullest.

I would love to be there and see their setup. Hope they succeed anyway.

Good luck, Ky.

ky -- My reading of the article left me with the belief that the process splits an H+ away from the H20 leaving an OH- to combine directly with the Al+++. No intermediary loose Oxygen to recombine. Have I got that right? Or am I just using my simplistic mechanical engineer's crude knowledge of chemistry to make an assumtion?

Ed Weldon

Ed, you got it correct, this reaction does not produce O₂. It produces hydrogen gas and aluminum hydroxide:

2 Al + 6 H₂O ---> 2 Al(OH)₃ + 3 H₂

To produce both hydrogen and oxygen gas, use electrolysis:

2 H₂O ---> 2 H₂ + O₂

REALLY dissapointed!!!

This is not new in any way!!!

It was explained some months ago during a description of how to manufacture lightweight concrete (You know that foam type stuff that you can shape with a handsaw.).

"Mutton dressed as lamb!"

Don't mention the war Mate. We had stuff going on with out the resources that was even more exiting. Blast from the past? Mutton dressed in Lamb? If I could only be with the tools they have now. I would sheer till the cows come home or longer!

Have a good one, Ky.

Apparently the editors of Science, one of the most prestigious scientific journals on Earth, found the research novel and important. But the subject matter is probably too specialized for a general audience.

Thanks for the feedback.

Whoever scored this as off topic is also quite welcome to do so. I was truly dissappointed at the way that this was reported, was anticipating some great breakthrough in the quest for cheaper Hydrogen and then was let down by the content.

It just passed my mind that the concrete guys had been using this physical phenomenon for some years, while here it was reported as "breaking news", with the new "idol" of Hydrogen gas being the all catching headline.

By the way, "How many tons of aluminium produce how many Kg of Hydrogen gas?" Just look at the molecular weights of the two elements.

I'm becoming highly dis-illusioned with the myth of Hydrogen being the all saving fuel. Looked into home production using solar panels and electrolysis, using a windmill to compress the gas for use in car driving to and from work. Feasible, YES. Practical Absolutely no way. Better off to just re-charge batteries for electric car or "sell" back to grid and use funds for hydrocarbon.

I would feel disappointed too -- if I paid any attention to the hype coming from scientifically illiterate journalists. The research is interesting not because it is supposed to be a breakthrough in energy storage. It is interesting (to at least physical and inorganic chemists) because it reveals something new about how the stability of metal clusters depends on their size and shape. This new insight *might* facilitate advances in energy storage, but that is not the precondition for its importance. I didn't mean to sound smug in my previous post. I just thought it was unfair to belittle the article based on the exaggerations of journalists.