Hydrogen paste has a similar range to that of gasoline

Hydrogen paste has a similar range to that of gasoline(businessinsider.com)

35 points by vlindos 5 years ago | 9 comments

epistasis 5 years ago |

The previous discussion was of an article of much higher quality:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26159068

This is some sort of development on using magnesium hydride as a storage mechanism for hydrogen. You combine magnesium with hydrogen, get MgH2, and then when MgH2 comes into contact with water, the H2 is released.

This is an old idea, and Wikipedia links to a 2006 effort along these lines:

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/01/safe_hydrogen_r.htm...

that achieved a specific energy of 2kWh/kg and 1.5kWh/L. This is about 10x better than lithium ion. However it's about 5x worse than gasoline. But since ICE are horribly inefficient relics of the past, a typical engine is only about 20% efficient, so it cancels out.

As for something like flight, jet engines are far more efficient than ICE, so this may or may not work there...

aeortiz 5 years ago | |

ICE = Internal combustion engine, for those confused by the TLA.

yorwba 5 years ago |

Discussed previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26027288

(Also, the submitted link seems to use some kind of URL shortener. Don't do that!)

dang 5 years ago | |

Yikes - link shorteners are banned on HN. URL changed from https://trib.al/E5llYxw above. Thanks!

mohaine 5 years ago |

Sounds nice but the title is a bit off from the content. `The researchers also pointed out that the range of the paste can be compared with gasoline and may even exceed it.`

Being able to be compared to gasoline is quite a bit different than being similar to gasoline. I would interpret that to being roughly the same order of magnitude, not similar.

Also, the `may even exceed it` makes the entire thing sound fishy. It doesn't say `may even exceed it with more development` so does this mean they don't even know the current energy density?

NoOneNew 5 years ago |

Similar to gasoline?

1.9 kWh per liter (6.84 megajoules): https://www.zess.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/ikts/zess/documen...

Gasoline energy density per liter, 34.2 mega joules: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

6.84 mj compares to 34.2 mj? Look, I want fossil fuels gone as the next cat. Overhype and lying through your rotten teeth doesn't help. Just adds fuel to big oil's rhetoric.

Closing the gap to gasoline's energy density? Absolutely and awesome. Similar... no. I just want alt energy to be honest and level headed. That way no one can take things out of context. That's all.

akvadrako 5 years ago | |

What I find is that cars only convert about 15% of gasoline's energy into power, so it really depends how efficient one can make a hydrogen engine.

naebother 5 years ago |

> All drivers need to do to refuel is swap out the old cartridge for a new one and fill a tank with water.

Interesting. So the paste is being mixed with water to release the hydrogen gas? What happens to cartridge after? Do you just refill it with more paste? Why can't that be done at POS? Would be nice to have a more technical description of how the whole process works.