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Hydrogen may be used in fuel cells for local electricity generation or potentially as a transportation fuel. Hydrogen is produced as a by-product of industrial chlorine production by electrolysis. Although requiring expensive technologies, hydrogen can be cooled, compressed and purified for use in other processes on site or sold to a customer ...
Hydrogen is not a primary energy source, because it is not naturally occurring as a fuel. It is, however, widely regarded as an ideal energy storage medium, due to the ease with which electricity can convert water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis and can be converted back to electrical power using a fuel cell or hydrogen turbine. [3]
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest element and, at standard conditions, is a gas of diatomic molecules with the formula H 2, sometimes called dihydrogen, [11] hydrogen gas, molecular hydrogen, or simply hydrogen. It is colorless, odorless, [12] non-toxic, and highly combustible.
The current U.S. demand for hydrogen fuel is 10 million metric tons per year. By the year 2050, that number is expected to grow to between 20 million and 40 million metric tons annually.
The concept of a society that uses hydrogen as the primary means of energy storage was theorized by geneticist J. B. S. Haldane in 1923. Anticipating the exhaustion of Britain's coal reserves for power generation, Haldane proposed a network of wind turbines to produce hydrogen and oxygen for long-term energy storage through electrolysis, to help address renewable power's variable output. [15]
A hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicle (HICEV) is a type of hydrogen vehicle using an internal combustion engine that burns hydrogen fuel. [1] Hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles are different from hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (which utilize hydrogen electrochemically rather than through oxidative combustion ).
Liquid hydrogen also has a much higher specific energy than gasoline, natural gas, or diesel. [12] The density of liquid hydrogen is only 70.85 kg/m 3 (at 20 K), a relative density of just 0.07. Although the specific energy is more than twice that of other fuels, this gives it a remarkably low volumetric energy density, many fold lower.
Natural hydrogen is generated from various sources. Many hydrogen emergences have been identified on mid-ocean ridges. [23] Serpentinisation occurs frequently in the oceanic crust; many targets for exploration include portions of oceanic crust which have been obducted and incorporated into continental crust.