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Hydrogen can be obtained from decomposition of Methane ( Natural Gas ) or from Water using electricity ( Electrolysis ). A primary benefit of using pure hydrogen as a power source is that it uses oxygen from the air to produce only Water Vapor as exhaust (and very little nitrogen oxides from the nitrogen in the air when burning at high temperatures), moving the source of atmospheric pollution from many cars back to a single power plant, where it can be more easily dealt with. There are no hydrogen cars current or anticipated which use the Fusion of hydrogen as a power source. Hydrogen is not a pre-existing source of Energy like Fossil Fuel s, but a carrier, much like a Battery . It is renewable in a realistic time scale, unlike fossil fuels which can take millions of years to replenish. (Some dispute this. See Abiogenic Petroleum Origin .) The largest apparent advantages are that it could be produced and consumed continuously as well as cleanly using Solar , Wind and Nuclear power for Electrolysis . However, current hydrogen production methods utilizing Hydrocarbons produce more pollution per mile driven than would direct consumption of the same hydrocarbon fuel (e.g., Methane or Gasoline ) in a modern internal combustion engine. To reduce pollution and reliance on fossil fuels, sustainable methods of hydrogen production would have to be improved beyond current capabilities. Some hydrogen cars currently exist, and a significant amount of research is underway to make the technology more viable. The common Internal Combustion Engine , usually fueled with Gasoline (petrol) or Diesel Liquid s, can be converted to run on Gas eous hydrogen. However, the most efficient use of hydrogen involves the use of Fuel Cell s and Electric Motor s instead of a traditional engine. Hydrogen reacts with Oxygen inside the fuel cells, which produces Electricity to power the motors. One primary area of research is hydrogen storage, to try to increase the range of hydrogen vehicles while reducing the weight, energy consumption, and complexity of the storage systems. Two primary methods of storage are metal hydrides and compression. High speed cars, Bus es, Submarine s, and space Rocket s already run on hydrogen, in various forms. There is even a working toy model car that runs on solar power, using a Reversible Fuel Cell to store energy in the form of hydrogen and oxygen gas. It can then convert the fuel back into water to release the solar energy. HYDROGEN FUEL CELL While fuel cells are potentially highly efficient, and working prototypes were made by Roger E. Billings in the 1960s, three major obstacles exist in the development of a fuel cell-powered hydrogen car. The first problem is that hydrogen has a very low Density . Even when the fuel is stored as a liquid in a Cryogenic tank or in a pressurized tank as a gas, the amount of energy that can be stored in the space available is limited, and hydrogen cars therefore have limited range compared to their conventional counterparts. Some research has been done into using special Crystal line materials to store hydrogen at greater densities and with margins. Instead of storing Molecular Hydrogen on-board, some have advocated using Hydrogen Reformer s to extract the hydrogen from more traditional fuels including Methane , gasoline, and Ethanol . Many Environmentalist s are irked by this idea, as it promotes continued dependence on Fossil Fuel s (at least in the case of gasoline). However, given an efficient reforming process, vehicles using reformed gasoline or ethanol to power fuel cells would still be more efficient than vehicles running internal combustion engines. The second major problem that used to plague hydrogen fuel cells involves the high cost of making reliable fuel cells that would provide electric power in a hydrogen car. Scientists are also working hard to figure out how to produce inexpensive fuel cells that are also robust enough to survive the bumps and Vibration s that all automobiles have to handle. Furthermore freezing conditions have to be handled because fuel cells do produce water and utilise moist air with varying water content. Most fuel cell designs are fragile and can't survive in such environments. Also, many designs require rare substances such as Platinum as a Catalyst in order to work properly, and the catalyst can be contaminated by impurities in the hydrogen supply. However, within the past few years, a nickel-tin catalyst has been developed which drastically lowers the cost of a hydrogen fuel cell car to make it an economically viable car. The third "problem" is due to the fact that while hydrogen can be used as an energy ''carrier'', it is not an energy ''source.'' It still must be produced from Fossil Fuel s, or from some other energy source, with a net loss of energy (since the conversion from energy to hydrogen storage and back to energy is not 100% efficient). Hydrogen is nearly twice as efficient than traditional combustion engines, which only have an efficiency of 15-25%. Hydrogen has a thermodynamic efficiency of 50-60%. The percentage will never be 100% because of the Second Law Of Thermodynamics . Since all energy sources have drawbacks, a shift into hydrogen powered vehicles may require difficult political decisions on how to produce this energy. The US Energy Department has already announced a plan to produce hydrogen directly from Generation IV Reactor s. These nuclear powerplants would be capable of producing hydrogen and electricity at the same time. Recently, alternative methods of creating hydrogen directly from sunlight and water through a metallic catalyst have been announced. This may provide a cheap, direct conversion of solar energy into hydrogen, a very clean solution. Sodium boro hydride (NaBH4) a chemical compound may hold future promise due to the ease at which hydrogen can be stored under normal atmospheric pressures in automobiles that have fuel cells. United States President George W. Bush is optimistic that these problems could be overcome with research. In his 2006 State Of The Union address, he announced the U.S. government's hydrogen fuel initiative, which complements the President's existing FreedomCAR initiative for safe and cheap hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. However, George W. Bush , former CEO of Harken oil corporation, has shown little actual action in promoting alternative fuel such as hydrogen. Moving the world economy toward the use of alternative (e.g. non-fossil fuel) energy sources, of which creating economically feasible hydrogen vehicles with perfomance comparable to current gasoline powered vehicles is an important part, may help to alleviate some of the world's political problems. For instance, dramatically reducing the United States' dependence on oil would eliminate its main strategic interest in the Middle East allowing it to withdraw both U.S. troops and U.S. aid to repressive regimes in the region (such as Saudi Arabia , Egypt , and Pakistan ) thereby depriving anti-American terrorists of one of their most valuable recruiting tools. Moreover, the economic marginalization of oil that would occur in as the world moved away from oil as its primary fuel would create dramatic changes in the political and economic dynamics of oil producing states. The declining price of oil would help to alleviate the so-called "Dutch Disease" that afflicts major oil exporters in which the oil industry soaks up most of the investment and caused currency appreciation that undermine the competiveness other industries working in tradable goods. The immense oil wealth of these states (think Saudi Arabia or the UAE) also prevents the formation of important political institutions and removes the government's dependence on the people for revenue thereby depriving the people of any ability to hold the government accountable. Without the huge revenues provided by oil the government would have to rely on the people for revenue meaning that the state would likely be forced to make important concessions to the people in the fields of political rights and civil liberties. The bottom line is that the United States may be able to decrease Muslim anti-Americanism, bring home troops, and promote reform in the Muslim world by moving toward alternative energies such as the hydrogen powered vehicle. This may also help to relieve other geopolitical tensions by removing an area over which great powers have traditionally competed and still compete today. (For more information on the corosive effects of oil look for "Dutch Disease" in almost any economics textbook and check out "Saving Iraq From Its Oil" by Nancy Birdsall and Arvind Subramanian in the July/August 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs) HYDROGEN INTERNAL COMBUSTION Hydrogen internal combustion engine cars are different from hydrogen fuel cell cars. The hydrogen internal combustion car is a slightly modified version of the traditional Gasoline Internal Combustion Engine car. Hydrogen internal combustion cars burn hydrogen directly, with no other fuels and produce pure water vapor exhaust. The problem with these cars is the hydrogen fuel that can be stored in a normal size tank is used up rapidly. A full tank of hydrogen, in the gaseous state, would last only a few miles before the tank is empty. However, methods are being developed to reduce tank space, such as storing condensed (liquid) hydrogen or using Metal Hydride s in the tank. In 1807, François Isaac De Rivaz built the first hydrogen-fueled internal combustion vehicle. However, the design was very unsuccessful. It's estimated that more than a thousand hydrogen powered vehicles were produced in Germany before the end of the WWII prompted by the acute shortage of oil. BMW 's CleanEnergy internal combustion hydrogen car has more Power and is faster than hydrogen fuel cell electric cars. A BMW hydrogen car ( H2R) broke the speed record for hydrogen cars at 300 km/h (186 mi/h), making automotive history. Mazda has developed Wankel Engine s to burn hydrogen. The Wankel uses a rotary principle of operation, so the hydrogen burns in a different part of the engine from the intake. This reduces intake Backfiring , a risk with hydrogen fueled piston engines. However the major car companies like DaimlerChrysler and General Motors Corp, are investing in the slower, weaker, but more efficient hydrogen fuel cells instead. An existing conventional car sleeps in a converter to run on hydrogen, or a mixture of hydrogen and other gasses as produced in a reforming process. Since hydrogen can burn in a very wide range of air/fuel mixtures, a small amount of hydrogen can also be used to ignite various liquid fuels in existing sources, like Biodiesel , are also practical for existing automobile conversions, but come with their own host of problems. Some claim to have devices that convert water to hydrogen gas directly in the car using the engine's output, making a car that runs only on water and produces water as exhaust. Since this is a closed loop exhibiting net energy output ( Perpetual Motion ), it is merely a hoax (see Water Fuel Cell ). In 2005 an Israeli company claimed it succeeded in conquering most of the problems related to producing Hydrogen internal combustion engine by using a device called a Metal-Steam combustor that separate Hydrogen out of heated water. A tip of a Magnesium or Aluminum coil is inserted into the small Metal-Steam combustor together with water where it is heated to very high temperatures. The metal atoms bond with the Oxygen from the water, creating metal oxide. As a result, the Hydrogen molecules become free, and are sent into the engine alongside the steam. The solid waste product of the process, in the form of metal oxide, will later be collected in the fuel station and recycled for further use by the metal industry AUTOMOBILE AND BUS MAKERS Many companies are currently researching the feasibility of building hydrogen cars. Funding has come from both private and government sources. In addition to the BMW and Mazda examples cited above, many automobile manufacturers have begun developing cars. These include: ]]
A few bus companies are also conducting hydrogen fuel cell research. These include:
Supporting these automobile and bus manufacturers are fuel cell and hydrogen engine research and manufacturing companies. The largest of these is UTC Power , a division of United Technologies Corporation , currently in joint development with Hyundai, Nissan, and BMW, among other auto companies. Another major supplier is Ballard Power Systems . The Hydrogen Engine Center is a supplier of hydrogen-fueled engines. Most, but not all, of these vehicles are currently only available in demonstration models and cost a large amount of money. They are not yet ready for general public use. There are, however, fuel cell powered buses currently active or in production, such as a fleet of Thor buses with UTC Power fuel cells in California, operated by SunLine Transit Agency {Link without Title} . Perth is also participating in the trial with three fuel cell powered buses now operating between Perth and the port city of Fremantle . The trial is to be extended to other Australian cities over the next three years. Mazda leased two dual-fuel RX-8s to commercial customers in Japan in early 2006, becoming the first manufacturer to put a hydrogen vehicle in customer hands. BMW has recently released to the media information of a new car that has been manufactured and uses hydrogen or petrol and is completely clean. BMW also plans to release its first publicly available hydrogen vehicle in 2008. FUEL STATIONS Since the turn of the millennium, Filling Station s offering hydrogen have been opening worldwide. Among them:
PLANES Smartfish is a revolutionary general aviation aircraft technology that is highly innovative in terms of safety, economy and emotion. It uses Hydrogen fuel. REFERENCES |
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