A new efficient catalyst, from common elements. This could be useful in space, too, though platinum might be less rare there.
One thought on “Splitting Water”
Comments are closed.
A new efficient catalyst, from common elements. This could be useful in space, too, though platinum might be less rare there.
Comments are closed.
Electrolytic hydrogen might become interesting if there is continued decline both in the cost of electrolyzers and cost of electricity (from non-fossil sources). In the US hydrogen from cheap natural gas is still economically superior, last I checked.
There’s an interesting side issue though with the hydrogen economy. If you take the hydrogen coming out of an electrolysis plant, and counter flow it in a catalytic water/gas exchange column with the incoming feedwater stream, you can strip just about all the deuterium out of the hydrogen stream, retaining it in the system. The water inside becomes increasingly enriched in deuterium, and some can be tapped off to cheaply further enrich it (this second stage would be orders of magnitude smaller than a system operating on unenriched water.) This is independent of any isotope effect in the electrolysis cells themselves.
Use of heavy water has been a proven way to “break out” and get plutonium for nuclear weapons (Israel did this, for example). A global hydrogen economy would spread this capability everywhere.