HYDROGEN CONVERSION
RHF'S TECHNOLOGY
THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY
WHY DO WE NEED A NEW HYDROGEN ECONOMY
PYROLOSIS, NOT HYDROLYSIS

Pyrolosis, Not Hydrolysis

Here’s something interesting: While hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, you’ll never find it by itself on Planet Earth. Mother Nature doesn’t allow it to exist on earth as straight hydrogen. Instead, hydrogen always is chemically bound to another element. The favorite elements to pair with hydrogen are oxygen (as in water) and carbon (as in a vast array of hydro-carbons and carbohydrates).

Will we ever use unlimited solar energy to split molecules of seawater into hydrogen and oxygen, then compress the hydrogen and transport it to land on special ships, where we can transport it by pipeline to our cities, pump it into our fuel-cell cars and drive merrily down the road dispensing pure drinking water from a convenient tap in the dashboard? Not likely. Such scenarios are more pipedream than possibility, since they fail to consider the basic laws of both physics and economics. And in any event, they certainly are too far in the future to solve our current problems.

Hydrogen is the smallest and lightest of all elements. While it’s certainly possible to extract hydrogen by passing an electric current through water, it’s a process that is energy intensive and inefficient; so is the process of compressing hydrogen. And transporting hydrogen through pipelines, as we currently do with natural gas, also is impractical. The hydrogen molecule is so small that it seeps right through conventional materials. The cost of using exotic materials, capable of containing hydrogen, to build thousands of miles of pipeline would be beyond our resources. And the energy required to compress and pump the hydrogen would be far more than would be available at the other end of the pipe.

What if we mount solar collectors on the roofs and canopies of our filling stations and convert the water right there? This would avoid many of the problems described in the more fanciful scenario, but it still leaves some big ones. In the first place, the hydrogen still would have to be compressed and stored so it would be available when you need to fill your tank. A hydrogen tank large enough for even a moderate-sized refueling station would cost a fortune. Your car would require a fuel tank that, all by itself, would cost more than the car you’re driving now.

Almost every scenario put forward by the proponents of pure hydrogen fuel has major problems. And nearly all of them involve spending trillions of dollars to build an entirely new infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen fuel, something that seems unlikely, at best.

So, is there a solution and, if so, what is it?

Yes. There is a simple, straightforward way to obtain all of the benefits of hydrogen fuel, with very few of the drawbacks: For storage and transport, simply let the hydrogen remain in the form in which it’s most comfortable – bound to atoms of carbon. Not all hydrocarbons or carbohydrates are bad. Nature makes some wonderfully clean, renewable and readily accessible oils. In fact, you’re already very familiar with many of these oils—you eat them nearly every day! Soy, canola, peanut, safflower, palm, sunflower, rapeseed and many other natural oils that are available in large quantities can be easily converted to a hydrogen-rich fuel on demand, at the point of use. This is a much more practical, safe, and available option.

There are also millions of tons of solid biomass suitable for use with gasifiers and stationary engines to generate electricity. This distributed generation has the potential to ease the demand for new coal-fired power plants, relieve the burden on overstress landfills and dramatically reduce the total carbon dioxide entering our atmosphere. At the same time, it will offer consumers the option of true energy independence.