Energy carrier, hydrogen

Comments on the practical options for use of various types of storage in hydrogen energy carrier systems are given below in section 2.4.6 and, for particular implementations, in Chapter 4 and section 5.1. 

Carrier conduit cross-connections of the user hubs to multiple supplier hubs (not shown in Fig. XXIV-2) and energy storage buffers provided by the storable nuclear fuel and hydrogen energy carriers would provide for robustness of energy security at both the national and the individual user levels, and for protection against monopolistic pricing. 

With all components in the ideal gas state, the standard enthalpy of the process is exothermic by —165 kJ (—39.4 kcal) per mole of methane formed. Biomass can serve as the original source of hydrogen, which then effectively acts as an energy carrier from the biomass to carbon dioxide, to produce substitute (or synthetic) natural gas (SNG) (see Euels, synthetic). 

C.-J. Wiater and J. Nitsch, eds.. Hydrogen as an Energy Carrier. Technology, Systems, Economy, Spriager-Vedag, Berlin, 1988, pp. 166—205. 

Table 8.11. Hydrogen content and volume per kg of hydrogen for potential energy carriers. Note that it is assumed that the compounds are reformed by water to release the maximum amount of hydrogen.

C. Thus the metal hydride is too stable and substantial efforts are undertaken to bring this temperature down so that the metal hydride can operate at ambient temperature, releasing hydrogen at a pressure of a few bars. For an excellent review of these efforts see L. Schlapbach and A. Zuttel, Nature (15 Nov. 2001) 353. Hence, gasoline is an obvious candidate to be the major energy carrier in the early days of the hydrogen society. 

If fuel cell technology were introduced on a large scale for automotive transportation, would you prefer a fuel distribution system in which gasoline fuel remains the major energy carrier but is reformed on-board to hydrogen or one in which hydrogen is provided at fuel stations Explain your choice. 

Increasing the utilization of hydrogen as an energy carrier in transportation and distributed power generation applications based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells will create a demand for plants that produce high-purity hydrogen as the primary product. 

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