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datadrivenangelyesterday at 7:53 PM2 repliesview on HN

The better comparison is Fuel Cells and vehicle based electrical generators. So you could put this in a vehicle or remote location, run it off hydrogen or natural gas, and get better efficiency. Potentially this could be a much better option for longer term storage in remote areas as well, where excess solar/wind could be used to crack hydrogen which then gets stored and later burned in one of these instead of a much much larger battery installation.


Replies

hgomersallyesterday at 9:52 PM

My understanding of fuel cells is they are rather sensitive to the purity of the fuel and oxygen. I wonder if this system is less sensitive such that, say, piped hydrogen can be used.

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jandreseyesterday at 7:56 PM

You still need to truck in the sodium additive even if you're cracking water on site to store the H2. Dunno if you need a couple of mg/kg or if it is like 5% of the fuel to make it burn at the right color.