JRO
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2011
- Messages
- 91
- Vessel Make
- 01 Carver 444, Four Forty Four CPMY
Hi,
I said hydro? If I did I misspoke.
Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines
- Thread starter Mako
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I said hydro? If I did I misspoke.
Hippocampus
Guru
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2020
- Messages
- 3,935
- Location
- Plymouth
- Vessel Name
- Hippocampus
- Vessel Make
- Nordic Tug 42
Have come to think in the maritime world less is more. Most pollution is from ships not recreational vessels. Here see various forms of sail assist viable and being employed. Biodiesel doesn’t require massive expense in retrofitting the existing fleet. Solar and wind generators as decreasing hotel loads but insufficient as propulsion. But unfortunately ICE propulsion will persist until the existing fleet ages out and tech improves. At presents nothing matches the caloric density of diesel and independence from local circumstances for energy generation.
Hydrogen is viable but faces obstacles. Need sources at beginning and end. Needs to be cost competitive. Perhaps you can speak to those issues.
Hydrogen is viable but faces obstacles. Need sources at beginning and end. Needs to be cost competitive. Perhaps you can speak to those issues.
Hydrogen has problems at the production, distribution and storage stages. It's certainly a viable option, because it leverages internal combustion engine technology. But beyond that it gets more difficult.
First, we'd need to produce it using green energy, instead of from fossil fuels, as it is now. That technology looks deceptively simple. I made hydrogen at my basement chemistry set as a kid. Scaling that up and marrying it to solar, wind or other renewable sources is a challenge at a number of levels.
Hydrogen is hard to store. It's literally the smallest molecule there is. And we all know how bad leaks can be. It has a high energy density, measured by mass. But in the transportation world the real measure is volumetric energy density.
For any new fuel we'd need a vast distribution infrastructure. Hydrogen would require that to be built from scratch, using a lot of complex technology which will be difficult to scale.
Again, it's very possible to switch to a "hydrogen economy" but it would take a huge commitment. I suspect other technologies will get there first.
First, we'd need to produce it using green energy, instead of from fossil fuels, as it is now. That technology looks deceptively simple. I made hydrogen at my basement chemistry set as a kid. Scaling that up and marrying it to solar, wind or other renewable sources is a challenge at a number of levels.
Hydrogen is hard to store. It's literally the smallest molecule there is. And we all know how bad leaks can be. It has a high energy density, measured by mass. But in the transportation world the real measure is volumetric energy density.
For any new fuel we'd need a vast distribution infrastructure. Hydrogen would require that to be built from scratch, using a lot of complex technology which will be difficult to scale.
Again, it's very possible to switch to a "hydrogen economy" but it would take a huge commitment. I suspect other technologies will get there first.
