Researchers discover safe, easy, and affordable way to store and retrieve hydrogen:
Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have discovered a compound that uses a chemical reaction to store ammonia, potentially offering a safer and easier way to store this important chemical.
This discovery, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on July 10, makes it possible not only to safely and conveniently store ammonia, but also the important hydrogen is [sic] carries. This finding should help lead the way to a decarbonized society with a practical hydrogen economy.
For society to make the switch from carbon-based to hydrogen-based energy, we need a safe way to store and transport hydrogen, which by itself is highly combustible. One way to do this is to store it as part of another molecule and extract it as needed. Ammonia, chemically written as NH3, makes a good hydrogen carrier because three hydrogen atoms are packed into each molecule, with almost 20% of ammonia being hydrogen by weight.
The problem, however, is that ammonia is a highly corrosive gas, making it difficult to store and use. Currently, ammonia is generally stored by liquefying it at temperatures well below freezing in pressure-resistant containers. Porous compounds can also store ammonia at room temperature and pressure, but storage capacity is low, and the ammonia cannot always be retrieved easily.
The new study reports the discovery of a perovskite, a material with a distinctive repetitive crystal structure, which can easily store ammonia and also allows easy and complete retrieval at relatively low temperatures.
The research team led by Masuki Kawamoto at RIKEN CEMS focused on the perovskite ethylammonium lead iodide (EAPbI3), chemically written as CH3CH2NH3PbI3. They found that its one-dimensional columnar structure undergoes a chemical reaction with ammonia at room temperature and pressure, and dynamically transforms into a two-dimensional layered structure called lead iodide hydroxide, or Pb(OH)I.
Journal Reference:
Jyorthana Rajappa Muralidhar, Krishnachary Salikolimi, Kiyohiro Adachi, et al., Chemical Storage of Ammonia through Dynamic Structural Transformation of a Hybrid Perovskite Compound, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2023. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c04181
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2023, @02:21PM (4 children)
Ammonia may be about 20% hydrogen by weight (I assume they mean mass)...
But this compound is an order of magnitude less than that, about 2% hydrogen by mass.
And is it really "safe"? There is a reason we have eliminated lead from almost every application where it was previously used. Maybe there's no reason to be concerned in this application but TFA doesn't discuss it at all.
This doesn't sound even remotely like like a safe, easy or affordable way to store and retrieve hydrogen. I think that some of the various hydrocarbon compounds may make for reasonably effective methods of stroring and transporting hydrogen. Many are quite safe to handle directly. Maybe we should try using some of those.
(Score: 2) by GloomMower on Wednesday July 12 2023, @04:01PM (2 children)
Good questions. It sounds like the compound is completely reusable and so the lead never goes anywhere? So maybe used as a hydrogen transport device. Or perhaps as a energy store for solar? I do not know what the energy density is, or the cost of making this, probably too early to get into cost. So perhaps think of it more as a possible better lead acid battery.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2023, @05:40PM (1 child)
This is easy to estimate. As a fuel, pure hydrogen (optimistically) has an energy density of about 140 MJ/kg [wikipedia.org]. Since this compound will be about 2% hydrogen by mass, assuming you can get 100% of the hydrogen out without using any energy to do so, this compound will get you about 3MJ/kg. About 1/20 the energy density of diesel fuel.
And based on this this random spec sheet for hydrogen gas cylinders I found from one web search [qtww.com], it is about one quarter to one half the energy density compared to just using compressed gas cylinders. (Using the same 140MJ/kg of hydrogen, the smallest tank on that chart will give you about 6MJ/kg total mass, the largest tank on the chart stores about 12MJ/kg total mass). And as bonus, these compressed gas cylinders aren't made out of toxic heavy metals so we don't need to worry about that detail.
(Score: 2) by GloomMower on Thursday July 13 2023, @12:11AM
Thanks. So I suppose with the process described in the article the advantage is that it is not combustible. So maybe useful in places where that is a concern? In vehicles, or different industrial sites, I donno?
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday July 13 2023, @03:16AM
That was basically my question too, phrased as:
What are the waste products from the carrier, and from manufacturing it?
Because my inner chemist looked at it and said that looks an awful lot like what they scream about if it comes out of our tailpipes.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by istartedi on Wednesday July 12 2023, @02:51PM (10 children)
They make meth. Google it. It's also fertilizer, so there's a lot of it on farms. You can probably guess the rest: farmers have to secure those tanks. Less certain about how often this comes in to play, but nitrogen compounds also tend to come in with explosive-making, e.g., ANFO is Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil. It's what blew up the OKC Federal building.
Of course any technology can be abused, but the hydrogen fuel economy is often really just petrochemicals in disguise since the easiest way to make a lot of H2 (at least for now) is to strip carbon from hydrocarbons, and you can guess where the carbon goes!
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Wednesday July 12 2023, @09:27PM (6 children)
It might be easier to go to a refrigeration supply store and buy a keg of R-717. Anhydrous ammonia is a common industrial refrigerant. It's probably the most efficient refrigerant in existence, but it does require special handling as it's an asphyxiant, irritant, flammable, and corrosive ( especially to copper ).
But it's the ticket when one really needs to chill out on an industrial scale.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ammonia+refrigerant [duckduckgo.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by istartedi on Wednesday July 12 2023, @10:00PM
Fortunately, not just anybody can waltz in and buy it. [epa.gov]. Note the exception for small cans of (not NH3) refrigerant you can use to re-charge your car's AC. Everything else is apparently restricted, which is good because I ran across another site describing a few dozen incidents where NH3 leaks killed people.
Of course you could DIY the Haber-Bosch process; but the wiki article describes it as energy-intensive so I'm guessing that would-be tweaker terrorists use easier routes. Some will always find a way, but there's no need to roll out the welcome mat.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Reziac on Thursday July 13 2023, @03:20AM (4 children)
Ammonia refrigerant leaking in the neighborhood of propane is why a long-ago neighbor no longer had a garage, a row of large trees, or a travel trailer, which I assume went up with a very large KA-BOOM, since there was nothing left of the trailer but the frame, with a large dent right under where the ammonia-cooled, propane-powered fridge used to be.
The garage being in the way saved the house. The large mature pines on the other side were all flat on the ground.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday July 13 2023, @06:29PM (3 children)
Wooh... Thanks for the heads up!
I did not see that one coming.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday July 13 2023, @07:30PM (2 children)
Drove by a day or two after the apparent event (I was just far enough up the road to have not heard it) and it was an astonishing thing to see. I expect the trailer's propane tank was closing on empty, or the KA-BOOM would have been a lot bigger.
Or why I disconnected the propane line formerly going to my trailer's ammonia-cooled fridge, egads... and a good thing, because eventually, it leaked.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Thursday July 13 2023, @10:29PM (1 child)
I have seriously considered an ammonia refrigerator because of their simplicity, reliability, and efficiency. No moving parts!
Grandpa had one. Ran on kerosene. Arkla-Servel?
My neighbor had a propane reefer in his RV, too, but the city code enforcement ran him out. I miss him. He was an engineer, working at a local hospital, verifying all the medical stuff was up to snuff.
I note a lot of camp stoves run on diesel.
Being I own an old Diesel van ( old school purely mechanical IDI ),
I live in California. We are passing law about electric car mandates while simultaneously making it hard on utility companies. I see inevitable brownouts. I'd much rather my food be in a diesel powered ammonia absorption freezer.
Diesel has the advantage of not being so explosive ( unlike gasoline ). It takes thermal assist ( glow plugs ) to get my old Diesel to start.
A spark won't do it. It can be wicked and lit though.
I am just trying to prepare against what I think is idiocy of government leadership. I will still need to refrigerate and prepare food in the event the grid goes down.
Maybe I should change my name to "Chicken Little" as I think I have seen enough leadership idiocy to convince me we are just begging for collapse by Government Mandate.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Thursday July 13 2023, @11:19PM
Yeah, I hear you, loud and painful. I lived in Los Angeles County for 28 years, and much as I loved the desert (and I liked L.A. too), I'm glad to be back in the Northern Wastes where I grew up, where sanity still prevails, and I'm regularly astonished by my highly pro-active electric co-op. (What do you mean, you're putting in new power poles? The old ones haven't yet entirely rotted away! And trim the trees dangling on the lines, at no charge? what is wrong with you people??)
Any heat source will do to circulate the ammonia. Dunno what's current but my 1961 vintage trailer fridge used either a single propane flame no bigger than a pilot light (it heated an iron flange that hung inside a sleeve), or an electric element the size of a hairbrush handle that ran at maybe 120 degrees (and fit inside the sleeve, rather loosely). The biggest downside was that it really did not get very cold. It could do about 50 degrees better than ambient. Dunno if that was its design or an inherent limitation; it had fairly heavy insulation, and a whole bunch of heat exchange coils, but it was only a little smaller than an apartment-size (maybe 8cu'?), and maybe that was too much. I used it for several years with the electric heat source, but eventually internal corrosion got to it, and it quit. By the time I got around to ejecting it in favor of a regular minifridge, it had eaten through somewhere and the ammonia had leaked away.
Anyway, given you've got CA sun available, methinks solar and a battery would more than suffice to power the point heat that ammonia uses, and minimal need to worry about fuel or flame.
Cuz it's not the flame that's the issue; it's that ammonia reacts with hydrocarbons to make what amounts to TNT, and the result may (witness the neighbor's former trailer) spontaneously ignite.
And wouldn't that be fun to have driving around the same streets as ICEs.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday July 12 2023, @11:05PM
Well, it's such a simple molecule and sufficiently reactive that I bet it can be used in a lot of things.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday July 13 2023, @11:38PM (1 child)
Actually there is some dispute about that claim by the ATF and FBI.
The Sterling Hall Bombing [wikipedia.org] that happened at the University of Wisconsin in 1970 was also caused by 2000lbs of ANFO and the Sterling Hall building didn't take nearly the amount of damage that the Murrah building did in 1995 it is cause to question the official report on the Federal governments claims about the Oklahoma City bombing incident.
In the 1970 event the van full of ANFO was actually parked right up against the building with only a few feet of air gap the building wasn't "scooped out" like the Murrah building in 1995. While the truck involved in the 1995 bombing was on the street with an air gap well clear of the Murry building it still managed to shatter re-enforced concrete pillars. Why the air gap is relavent has to do with ANFO being a low velocity explosive that doesn't have much shattering power to begin with and it drops off very quickly from teh point of detonation, even a few yards can mean the difference between knocking down a tree or not, never mind damaging a concrete column. Also of note is that the Sterling Hall building was older than the Murrah building and not as well re-enforced as the more modern Murrah building.
Compare
Sterling Hall, 1970 [fbi.gov]
to
Murry Building, 1995 [nyt.com]
There are also a number of other discrepancies between what was observed and reported by people in the building at the time and first responders. including Terrance Yeakey [thefreethoughtproject.com] as well as questions about events leading up to the bombing as well as how the investigation and clean up was handled.
I would recommend watching A Noble Lie [imdb.com] to anyone interested in getting more information about the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
It is available to watch on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R96tBbpOHIw [youtube.com]
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Tuesday July 18 2023, @01:24AM
I've never heard of that before, but it has a whiff of conspiracy about it, and like most conspiracies there are strong counter-points that are easily found. The first thing that comes up is that ANFO is not a standardized product [wikipedia.org], and as I suspected the article confirms my suspicion that home-made ANFO is likely to vary widely in quality.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2023, @01:57AM (2 children)
Lots of hydrogen here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_(chemistry) [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocarbon [wikipedia.org]
How to convert them into energy is a problem especially if you want fuel cell(s) that are practical for car use (e.g. not too big and heavy).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-ethanol_fuel_cell [wikipedia.org]
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aenm.202202928 [wiley.com]
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday July 14 2023, @03:57AM
You don't even need a fuel cell to use Butanhol [wikipedia.org] in a ICE car.
It has an octane range that is close enough to gasoline that the engine doesn't need to be adjusted to use it straight or mixed in any ratio with gasoline and it is Carbon neutral.
Only thing that might need to be updated about the vehicle's hardware is the fuel lines, if they are susceptible to embritalment caused by the drying effect of alcohols they will need to be replaced with synthetic rubber fuel lines.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by Username on Friday July 14 2023, @05:53AM
I was just going to point out hydrocarbons are the safest and most efficient way of storing hydrogen.
Not sure why they need to reinvent the wheel here, they get hydrogen easy enough from the current process.