by Goldschmidt Conference
Scientists have developed a large-scale economical method to extract hydrogen (H2) from oil sands (natural bitumen) and oil fields. This can be used to power hydrogen-powered vehicles, which are already marketed in some countries, as well as to generate electricity; hydrogen is regarded as an efficient transport fuel, similar to petrol and diesel, but with no pollution problems. The process can extract hydrogen from existing oil sands reservoirs, with huge existing supplies found in Canada and Venezuela. Interestingly, this process can be applied to mainstream oil fields, causing them to produce hydrogen instead of oil.
Hydrogen powered vehicles, including cars, buses, and trains, have been in development for many years. These vehicles have been acknowledged to be efficient, but the high price of extracting the Hydrogen from oil reserves has meant that the technology has not been economically viable. Now a group of Canadian engineers have developed a cheap method of extracting H2 from oil sands. They are presenting this work at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Barcelona.
“There are vast oil sand reservoirs in several countries, with huge fields in Alberta in Canada, but also in Venezuela and other countries” said Dr. Ian Gates, of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Calgary, and of Proton Technologies Inc.).
Oil fields, even abandoned oil fields, still contain significant amounts of oil. The researchers have found that injecting oxygen into the fields raises the temperature and liberates H2, which can then be separated from other gases via specialist filters. Hydrogen is not pre-existing in the reservoirs, but pumping oxygen means that the reaction to form hydrogen can take place.
Grant Strem, CEO of Proton Technologies which is commercializing the process says “This technique can draw up huge quantities of hydrogen while leaving the carbon in the ground. When working at production level, we anticipate we will be able to use the existing infrastructure and distribution chains to produce H2 for between 10 and 50 cents per kilo. This means it potentially costs a fraction of gasoline for equivalent output”. This compares with current H2 production costs of around $2/kilo. Around 5% of the H2 produced then powers the oxygen production plant, so the system more than pays for itself.
HT/Earthling2
Our energy infrastructure is not a given nor fixed but a work in progress – and it will continue to evolve and change. Those changes have been and will (and should) continue to be driven by technological advances and market forces and not by fear based activism of any color. The AGW issue is not whether our energy infrastructure will change but whether it will evolve with technological and market forces or by the use of fear based activism.
“Around 5% of the H2 produced then powers the oxygen production plant, so the system more than pays for itself.”
Provided enough existing oil sands reservoirs, mainstream oil fields, to produce hydrogen instead of oil.
What are the dangers of using hydrogen as a fuel?
The two prime dangers from fuel cell and hydrogen-powered vehicles are the danger of electrical shock and the flammability of the fuel. Fuel cells power vehicles by electro-chemically combining hydrogen gas (H2) and oxygen (O2) from the surrounding air into water (H20) and electrical energy.
https://www.google.com/search?q=hydrogen+automobile+interior&oq=hydrogen+automobile+interi&aqs=chrome.
Hydrogen needs to be compressed to even higher pressures because of its even lower energy density. To date, hydrogen tanks designed for fuel cell vehicles have been developed to store hydrogen at pressures of up to 10,000 psi (700 bar) to maximize vehicle range.
DOE Hydrogen Composite Tank Program – NREL
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-huawei&sxsrf=ACYBGNQC51JBiFMdyxar1QS6ai_PPCsaAg%3A1574430490947&ei=GufXXeCVOYSRmwWmzofACQ&q=hydrogen+automobile+pressure+tank&oq=hydrogen+automobile+pressure+tank&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.