I have heard someone about hydrogen stations that use ammonia to produce hydrogen. Do you know something?

Question

I have heard someone about hydrogen stations that use ammonia to produce hydrogen. Do you know something?

Answer 1

Everyone always talks about electrolysis when they talk about making hydrogen. Basically a process which combines electricity with water to break that H2O into Hydrogen gas (H) and Oxygen (O).

What people often forget is that electrolysis isn't very efficient.

The MOST efficient way of making hydrogen is by steam reforming; basically taking hydrocarbons like methane (CH4) and splitting it into C02 and Hydrogen gas. The chemical formula for ammonia is NH3, so obviously there's hydrogen there to extract. But most ammonia doesn't occur naturally in any significant quantities, so it's nearly entirely synthesized through industrial processes from Hydrogen and nitrogen. Steam reforming makes sense for methane because methane occurs naturally, and so extracting the hydrogen a profitable solution. But since ammonia is mostly synthetic, it makes no sense to start out with hydrogen and nitrogen, make ammonia out of it, and then just turn it back into hydrogen again. It would only make sense if you could find it naturally somewhere.

The only context that could make sense for converting hydrogen into ammonia is for transportation. It takes a lot of equipment to transport hydrogen gas, and it inevitably will leak, even perfectly sealed containers. Ammonia on the other hand can be stored in a cheap waterproof jug for transport, and then converted on site. Much simpler.

But all of these are mostly overshadowed by electrolysis because of the simplicity of electrolysis. If you have water, you don't need methane or ammonia brought to you, you can make it at the station relatively cheaply with a simple device, on demand.

Answer 2

I've never heard of using ammonia. I know people who make HHO generators. Basically he just uses water and electrodes. It separates the hydrogen from the oxygen molecules and uses them as alternative fuel. Just search the internet for instructions for making them....

Answer 3

they make ammonia by combing air and H2.  The H2 is from steam reforming methane.  So, why would someone do that?

Answer 4

it costs less energy to get hydrogen from molecules like ammonia and methane than it does to get hydrogen from water. That assumes you have a good source of ammonia.

Answer 5

I suppose you could get H from ammonia.  Or you could just burn it directly with air on a catylist like Pt.  Problem is wiht energy density, probably 1/3 of diesel.  Also its fairly toxic so its hard to handle and leaks would be a nightmare

Problem with H2 is not making it, lots of ways to do that, its storing in on the vehicle with enough density to get you good range.  Best setup now is a fuel cell instead of a motor (70% efficient), electic motor and a high pressure tank for H2, still have issues with range of car.