A silicon-based powder that generates hydrogen when mixed into water - EPRO Advance Technology
Stir this silicon-based powder into water, and hydrogen will bubble out, ready for immediate use. Hong Kong company EPRO Advance Technology (EAT) says its Si+ powder offers an instant end to the difficulties of shipping and storing green energy.
This is the second powdered hydrogen advance we've learned about this week, designed to solve the same problems: transporting hydrogen is difficult, dangerous and expensive, whether the costs are for cryogenic cooling in a liquid hydrogen system, or for compression to around 700 times the normal sea-level air pressure.
But where Deakin University's mechanochemical storage process takes hydrogen gas and traps it in a powder for easy, stable transport, releasing it only once the recyclable powder is heated, EAT's silicon-based powder doesn't require you to start off with any hydrogen at all – and getting the hydrogen back out is even easier.
The Si+ powder can be made using a (preferably renewable) energy source, as well as metallurgical-grade silicon – which itself can be made from sand, or from crushed-up recycled solar panels and electronics. EAT's process results in a porous silicon powder that's completely safe and easy to transport.
When you need the hydrogen, you dump the Si+ powder into water, mix it around a bit, and ... that's pretty much it. At a wide range of ambient temperatures between 0-80 °C (32-176 °F), hydrogen gas will start bubbling out. The chemical equation, says EAT, looks like this: Si + 2H2O -> SiO2 + 2H2.
Thus, apart from the hydrogen gas, all that's left over is silicon dioxide, also known as silica, or the major constituent of sand. EAT says this can be shipped off to make concrete, or zeolites. Or a beach, I guess? New Atlas - link - the ever brilliant Loz Blain - link - more like this (H2 transport) - link
But where Deakin University's mechanochemical storage process takes hydrogen gas and traps it in a powder for easy, stable transport, releasing it only once the recyclable powder is heated, EAT's silicon-based powder doesn't require you to start off with any hydrogen at all – and getting the hydrogen back out is even easier.
The Si+ powder can be made using a (preferably renewable) energy source, as well as metallurgical-grade silicon – which itself can be made from sand, or from crushed-up recycled solar panels and electronics. EAT's process results in a porous silicon powder that's completely safe and easy to transport.
When you need the hydrogen, you dump the Si+ powder into water, mix it around a bit, and ... that's pretty much it. At a wide range of ambient temperatures between 0-80 °C (32-176 °F), hydrogen gas will start bubbling out. The chemical equation, says EAT, looks like this: Si + 2H2O -> SiO2 + 2H2.
Thus, apart from the hydrogen gas, all that's left over is silicon dioxide, also known as silica, or the major constituent of sand. EAT says this can be shipped off to make concrete, or zeolites. Or a beach, I guess? New Atlas - link - the ever brilliant Loz Blain - link - more like this (H2 transport) - link
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