"8-track" hydrogen cartridge for cars
The FST hydrogen system fills cartridges to power fuel-cell cars.
(Credit: FST Energy)Critics of fuel-cell cars often point to the dangers of storing hydrogen in a vehicle. FST Energy gets around this problem by storing hydrogen in an absorbent material that is contained in a cartridge. (Actually, the company calls it the FST Fuel Cassette, but cartridge works better with our 8-track reference.) Anyway, FST's cartridge would hold some sort of catalyst that could absorb and release hydrogen molecules. When you drive up to a fuel station in your fuel-cell car, instead of connecting up a hose, you'd pull out your car's empty cartridge and exchange it for a full one.
But wait, FST has another trick up its sleeve. Its DC3 stack includes an electrolyzer that splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. You could plug it in overnight, and have a full hydrogen cartridge in the morning. Now, if FST Energy could strike a deal with the music industry, we could plug a Doobie Brothers hydrogen cartridge into our car and be Rockin' Down the Highway.
The truth is that gasoline is MANY times more volatile than hydrogen. Even under high-pressure, hydrogen will simply burn out like a blowtorch until gone, as opposed to the explosive result you see with gasoline.
With a leak, hydrogen will also more likely simply evaporate, whereas gasoline will spread and cause a much bigger fire upon ignition.
Don't believe the hype about the so-called "dangers" of hydrogen. We are all driving much bigger deathtraps, already.
ack-thbbft states:
"The truth is that gasoline is MANY times more volatile than hydrogen. Even under high-pressure, hydrogen will simply burn out like a blowtorch until gone, as opposed to the explosive result you see with gasoline."
Oh, really, so me and more than 30 middle school classmates true life experience with hydrogen burning with a pop even with an open ended test tube in our chemistry class must be one of these extreme rare cases when hydrogen "behave" badly.
Honestly, how chemical and physically does burning hydrogen under high pressure differ from burning gasoline under high pressure within a confined environment? As both would likely result in an explosion, give some physical evidence to back back those claim there.
The danger with hydrogen is "hype" then, so explain this to me. If hydrogen is a gas under normal pressure and gas is a liquid and the key issue with containing both volatile fule is the containment of the fuel itself in the tand, then it is equally easy to contain hydrogen in gas form as it is to contain gasoline in liquid form. Also explain to me, how is it necessary to contain hydrogen in inch thick steel pressurized bottles with high pressure valves when a common gas tank is 1/8 inch thick with a plastic cap if both fuels are equally manageable under normal atmospherical pressures?
Gasoline more volatile? Please. You can put a match out in gasoline. You have to vaporize gasoline before it will burn.
Yeah, burning as a 1500 degree blow torch with an almost invisible flame is really harlmess. Not going to start secondary fires at all. Nope. All that heat isn't going to ignite the surrounding materials; nope, blow torches are perfectly safe. That's why we package them as Christmas presents. Look. Little Johnny has a blowtorch. What harmless fun.
Typical environmentalism. Provide a solution worse than the problem.
If you want a hydrogen economy, the best way to get it is to react the hydrogen with carbon and make propane, then burn that in your cars.
- by FearTurtles November 27, 2008 7:58 AM PST
- b_baggins, Are you freaking kidding me? Do you realize how dangerous you comment is? Sure you can put a match out in gasoline so long as no Oxygen is present. But then I would wonder how it is your going to keep the match lite. I can just see some child reading your comment and giving it a try. For that matter I guess you could put a match out in hydrogen as well so long as no oxygen was present. Sure anything that creates great amount of heat can cause harm. But the fact is that Hydrogen flames do not radiate heat like gas flames. This accually makes hydrogen safer because the flame really needs to come into direct contact with an object before it burns it. Hydrogen burns at 350 deg F where as Gasoline burns at 450 degrees F. The big difference is that when a Hydrogen flame come into contact it will quickly heat that object to the point of burning. This posses a challange when making flame protecting materials.
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