Re:Green steel without green hydrogen – can it work?
by pfdietz on Wednesday February 16, 2022 @08:52AM
(#30359910)
LH2 has very low density, so it cannot be used in an aircraft that looks like what we're currently using. I suspect synthetic hydrocarbons will be used instead. Hydrogen is likely essential in making those.
Low density is also a big reason why using LH2 in the first stage of a rocket launch vehicle is a dumb idea.
Re:Green steel without green hydrogen – can it work?
by ncmncm on Wednesday February 16, 2022 @12:56PM
(#30363260)
It will need new airframes and new cryo infrastructure, which is why it has been slow to happen. Once it does, building out will take a long time. But the competitive benefits are big enough to move a lot of activity.
In the meantime, we will need synthetic hydrocarbons, using captured carbon, for extant airframes. It will need to get (or be made, through carbon taxes) cheaper than the mined, refined, and transported stuff.
Having a big hydrogen synthesis infrastructure in place feeding hydrocarbon synthesis will then ease the transition off of hydrocarbons, as equipment that can use hydrogen directly comes online. Stationary uses will come first, displacing natural gas electric generation.
Hydrogen is directly useful in electrical synthethis of methane and ammonia, besides myriad current industrial uses, and, as LH2, is disruptive as an aviation fuel: LH2 aircraft will be impossible to compete with, wherever they are available.