The hydrogen-oxygen mixture, as the most energetically capacious, was proposed to be used in engines by K. E. Tsiolkovsky back in 1903. Hydrogen is already used as fuel: for cars (from one and a half to Toyota Mirai), jet aircraft (from Heinkel to Tu-155), torpedoes (from GT 1200A to Shkval), rockets (from Saturn to Burana ). New aspects are opened by the production of metallic hydrogen and the practical application of the Rossi reactor. In the near future, the development of technologies for obtaining cheap hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide of the Black Sea and directly from the sources of degassing of the Earth. Despite the opposition of the oil lobby, we are inexorably entering the hydrogen era!
Changing our consumption - together we change the World!
The pros and cons of hydrogen fuel
Hydrogen fuel has a number of features:
- The heat transfer of hydrogen is 250% higher than that of a fuel-air mixture.
- After combustion of the hydrogen mixture, only steam is generated at the outlet.
- The ignition reaction is faster than with other fuels.
- Thanks to detonation stability, it is possible to raise the compression ratio.
- The storage of such fuel takes place in liquid or compressed form. In the event of a tank breakdown, hydrogen vaporizes.
- The lower level of the proportion of gas to react with oxygen is 4%. Thanks to this feature, it is possible to adjust the engine operating modes by dosing the consistency.
- The efficiency of a hydrogen engine reaches 90 percent. For comparison, a diesel engine has an efficiency of 50%, and a conventional internal combustion engine - 35%.
- Hydrogen is a volatile gas, so it gets into the smallest gaps and cavities. For this reason, few metals are able to withstand its destructive effects.
- There is less noise when the engine is running.
The first hydrogen engine started working in the USSR in 1941
You will be surprised, but the first engine of an ordinary "lorry" started working on hydrogen in besieged Leningrad in September 1941! The young junior technician-lieutenant Boris Shchelishch, who was in charge of lifting the barrage balloon, was ordered to set up the winches in the absence of gasoline and electricity. Since the balloons were filled with hydrogen, he got the idea to use it as fuel.
Promotional video:
During dangerous experiments, two balloons burned out, a gas tank exploded, and Boris Isaakovich himself received a shell shock. After that, for the safe operation of the air-hydrogen "explosive" mixture, he invented a special water seal, which excluded ignition in the event of a flash in the engine intake pipe. When everything finally worked out, the military leaders arrived, made sure that the system was working properly, and ordered to transfer all aerostatic winches to a new type of fuel in 10 days. In view of the limited resources and time, Shchelishch cleverly used decommissioned fire extinguishers to make a water seal. And the problem of lifting barrage balloons was successfully solved!
Boris Isaakovich was awarded the Order of the "Red Star" and was sent to Moscow, his experience was used in the air defense units of the capital - 300 engines were transferred to "dirty hydrogen", the inventor's certificate No. 64209 for invention was issued. Thus, the priority of the USSR in the development of the energy sector of the future was ensured. In 1942, an unusual car was shown at an exhibition of equipment adapted to the conditions of the blockade. At the same time, his engine worked 200 hours without stopping in an enclosed space. The exhaust gases - ordinary steam - did not pollute the air.
In 1979, under the scientific supervision of E. V. Shatrov. the creative team of NAMI workers, consisting of V. M. Kuznetsov Ramenskiy A. Yu., Kozlova Yu. A. a prototype of the RAF minibus, running on hydrogen and gasoline, was developed and tested.
Tests RAF 22031 (1979).
Hydrogen peroxide underwater vehicles
In 1938-1942, at the Kiel shipyards, under the leadership of engineer Walter, an experimental U-80 boat was built that worked on hydrogen peroxide. On tests, the ship showed a full underwater speed of 28.1 knots. The vapor of water and oxygen obtained as a result of the decomposition of peroxide was used as a working fluid in the turbine, after which they were removed overboard.
The figure conventionally shows the device of a submarine with a hydrogen peroxide engine.
In total, the Germans managed to build 11 boats from the Perm State Technical University.
After the defeat of Hitler's Germany in England, the USA, Sweden and the USSR, work was carried out to bring Walter's plan to practical implementation. A Soviet submarine (project 617) with a Walter engine was built at the Antipin design bureau.
The famous VA-111 UNDERWATER TORPEDA ROCKET "SHKVAL".yes.
In the meantime, the advances in nuclear power have made it possible to better solve the problem of powerful submarine engines. And these ideas were successfully applied in torpedo engines. Walter HWK 573. (underwater engine of the world's first guided anti-ship air-to-surface missile GT 1200A to hit a ship below the waterline). The gliding torpedo (UAB) GT 1200A had an underwater speed of 230 km / h, being the prototype of the USSR high-speed torpedo "Shkval". The DBT torpedo entered service in December 1957, operated on hydrogen peroxide and developed a speed of 45 knots with a cruising range of up to 18 km.
The gas generator through the cavitation head creates an air bubble around the body of the object (vapor-gas bubble) and, due to the drop in hydrodynamic resistance (water resistance) and the use of jet engines, the required underwater speed of movement (100 m / s) is achieved, which is several times higher than the speed of the fastest conventional torpedo. For work, a hydroreactive fuel is used (alkali metals, when interacting with water, release hydrogen).
The Tu-155 on hydrogen has set 14 world records
During the Second World War, the "Heinkel" company created a whole line of jet aircraft under the Walter Walter HWK-109-509 engine with a thrust of 2000 kgf, working on hydrogen peroxide.
Russia had quite successful, but, unfortunately, did not become a serial experience of creating "ecological" aircraft already in the late 80s of the last century. The world was presented with the Tu-155 (experimental model Tu-154), which runs on liquefied hydrogen, and then on liquefied natural gas. On April 15, 1988, the plane was first taken to the sky. He set 14 world records and completed about a hundred flights. However, then the project went “on the shelf”.
In the late 1990s, by order of Gazprom, the Tu-156 was built with liquefied gas engines and traditional aviation kerosene. This plane suffered the same fate as the Tu-155. Can you imagine how hard it is even for Gazprom to fight the oil lobby!
Hydrogen cars
Hydrogen powered cars are divided into several groups:
- Vehicles powered by pure hydrogen or air / fuel mixtures. The peculiarity of such engines is clean exhaust and an increase in efficiency up to 90%.
- Hybrid cars. They have an economical engine capable of running on pure hydrogen or a gasoline mixture. Such vehicles comply with the Euro-4 standard.
- Cars with a built-in electric motor that powers the hydrogen cell on board the vehicle.
The main feature of hydrogen vehicles is the way fuel is fed into the combustion chamber and ignited.
The following models of hydrogen vehicles are already being serially produced:
- Ford Focus FCV;
- Mazda RX-8 hydrogen;
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class;
- Honda FCX;
- Toyota Mirai;
- MAN Lion City Bus and Ford E-450 buses;
- hybrid two-fuel vehicle BMW Hydrogen 7.
Serial hydrogen car Toyota * Mirai *.
This car can accelerate to 179 km / h, and the car accelerates to 100 km / h in 9.6 seconds and, most importantly, it is able to travel 482 km without additional refueling.
The BMW concern presented its version of the Hydrogen car. The new model has been tested by well-known cultural figures, businessmen, politicians and other popular personalities. Tests have shown that switching to a new fuel does not affect the comfort, safety and dynamics of the vehicle. If necessary, the types of fuel can be switched from one to another. Hydrogen7 speed - up to 229 km / h.
Honda Clarity is a car from the Honda concern that amazes with its power reserve. It is 589 km long, which no other low-emission vehicle can boast. Refueling takes three to five minutes.
The Home Energy Station III is a compact unit that includes fuel cells, a hydrogen storage cylinder and a natural gas reformer that extracts H2 from a gas pipe.
Methane from the household network is converted by this device into hydrogen. And he - in electricity for the house. The power of the fuel cells in the Home Energy Station is 5 kilowatts. In addition, the built-in gas cylinders serve as a kind of energy storage. The plant uses this hydrogen at peak loads on the home grid. Generates 5 kW of electricity and up to 2 m3 of hydrogen per hour.
The disadvantages of hydrogen vehicles include:
- the bulkiness of the power plant when using fuel cells, which reduces the vehicle's maneuverability;
- while the high cost of the hydrogen elements themselves due to their constituent palladium or platinum;
- design imperfection and uncertainty in the material for the manufacture of fuel tanks that do not allow hydrogen storage for a long time;
- lack of hydrogen refueling, the infrastructure of which is very poorly developed throughout the world.
With serial production, most of these design and technological shortcomings will be overcome, and with the development of hydrogen production as a mineral, and a network of filling stations, its cost will significantly decrease.
In 2016, the first hydrogen-fueled train appeared, which is the brainchild of the German company Alstom. The new Coranda iLint is scheduled to start on the route from Buxtehude to Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony.
In the future, it is planned to replace 4000 diesel trains in Germany with such trains, moving on sections of roads without electrification.
The original hydrogen bike was released in France. (French Pragma). You fill in only 45 grams of hydrogen and go! Fuel consumption is approximately 1 gram per 3 kilometers.
Hydrogen in astronautics
As a fuel in a pair with liquid oxygen (LC), liquid hydrogen (LH) was proposed in 1903 by K. E. Tsiolkovsky. It is combustible, with the highest specific impulse (for any oxidizer), which allows a much larger mass of payload to be launched into space with an equal launch mass of the rocket. However, objective difficulties stood in the way of using hydrogen fuel.
The first is the complexity of its liquefaction (production of 1 kg of LH costs 20-100 times more than 1 kg of kerosene).
The second - unsatisfactory physical parameters - extremely low boiling point (-243 ° C) and very low density (LH is 14 times lighter than water), which negatively affects the storage capacity of this component.
In 1959, NASA issued a major order for the design of the Centaurus oxygen-hydrogen unit. It was used as the upper stages of such launch vehicles as Atlas, Titan and the Saturn heavy rocket.
Due to the extremely low density of hydrogen, the first (largest) stages of launch vehicles used other (less efficient, but denser) types of fuel, such as kerosene, which allowed them to be reduced in size to acceptable ones. An example of such a "tactic" is the Saturn-5 rocket, in the first stage of which oxygen / kerosene components were used, and in the second and third stages - oxygen-hydrogen engines J-2, with a thrust of 92104 tons each.
As an example, I will cite the video of the launch of Apollo 11:
On the 4th minute of the recording, the 1st stage is separated and the illusion is created that the second stage engines do not work, this gave rise to many rumors about the unrealistic flight to the Moon. In fact, the combustion of hydrogen in the upper atmosphere is "colorless", the flame becomes noticeable when an object or pieces of paint hits it.
In the "Space Shuttle" system, the 2nd stage also worked with an oxygen / hydrogen pair.
In the era of rapid development of astronautics in our country, liquid-propellant rocket engines with hydrogen fuel were also widely used.
Metallic hydrogen
On October 5, 2016, metallic hydrogen was obtained at the Harvard University physics laboratory. This required a pressure of 495 gigapascals. If the problem of stability and cooling of the combustion chamber (6000 K) is solved, then metallic hydrogen will become the most promising rocket fuel.
Scientists believe that metallic hydrogen will provide a pulse of 1000-1700 seconds in engines. (In modern rocket engines, an impulse of 460 seconds has been reached so far) Plus, small tanks will be needed to store metallic hydrogen, which will make it possible to make single-stage rockets to launch a payload into space, this will open a new era of space exploration!
Getting diamonds
Hydrogen has found another remarkable application in the production of diamonds. The evolution of a hydrogen - methane fluid with decreasing pressure is expressed in the self-oxidation (deep combustion) of hydrogen and methane in the C-H-O system with the formation of diamonds, water, and CO. A vivid confirmation of this process is the well-established production of gem-quality diamonds weighing up to 4 carats and film coatings from the C-H-O fluid system (semiconductors of which represent the future of microelectronics). See the article Diamond Carbonado, the most valuable semiconductor of the future.
Thermal reactor Rossi
Italian inventor Andrea Rossi, with the support of scientific consultant physicist Sergio Fokardi, conducted an experiment:
How many grams of nickel (Ni) were added to a sealed tube, 10% lithium aluminum hydride, catalyst were added and the capsule was filled with hydrogen (H2). After heating to a temperature of about 1100-1300 ° C, paradoxically, the tube remained hot for a whole month, and the released heat energy was several times higher than that spent on heating!
At a seminar at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) in December 2014, it was reported on the successful repetition of this process in Russia:
By analogy, a tube with fuel is made:
Conclusions from the experiment: the release of energy is 2.58 times more than the consumed electrical energy.
In the Soviet Union, work on CNS was carried out since 1960 in some design bureaus and research institutes by order of the state, but with the "restructuring" funding stopped. To date, experiments are being successfully carried out by independent researchers - enthusiasts. Funding is carried out at the personal expense of collectives of Russian citizens. One of the groups of enthusiasts, under the leadership of NV Samsonenko, works in the building of the "Engineering Corps" of the RUDN University.
They performed a series of calibration tests with electric heaters and a reactor without fuel. In this case, as one would expect, the released heat power is equal to the supplied electrical power.
The main problem is the sintering of the powder and local overheating of the reactor, due to which the heating coil burns out and even the reactor itself can burn through and through.
But A. G. Parkhomov, managed to make a long-term reactor. Heater power 300 W, efficiency = 300%.
The fusion reaction 28Ni + 1H (ion) = 29Cu + Q warms the Earth from the inside
The inner core of the Earth contains nickel and hydrogen, at a temperature of 5000K and a pressure of 1.36 Mbar, so there are all conditions for a fusion reaction in the interior of the Earth, experimentally reproduced in the Rossi reactor! As a result of this reaction, copper is obtained, the compounds of which are found in the "black smokers" zones of the Earth's expansion (mid-ocean ridges) in a stream rich in hydrogen.
Dark hydrogen
In 2016, scientists from the United States and Great Britain, having created a pressure of 1.5 million atmospheres and a temperature of several thousand degrees during instant compression, were able to obtain the third intermediate state of hydrogen, in which it simultaneously has the properties of both gas and metal. It is called "dark hydrogen" because in this state it does not transmit visible light, unlike infrared radiation. "Dark hydrogen", in contrast to metallic, fits perfectly into the model of the structure of giant planets. He explains why their upper atmosphere is significantly warmer than it should be, transferring energy from the core, and because it has significant electrical conductivity, it plays the same role as the outer core on Earth, forming the planet's magnetic field!
Generation of hydrogen from the depths of the Black Sea
God endowed the land of Crimea not only with the most beautiful and varied nature, but also with sufficient reserves of various minerals, including hydrocarbons. But our peninsula literally "bathes" in the world's largest water storage of natural gases, which is the Black Sea.
The deep layers - below 150m, consist of hydrogen-containing compounds, the main part of which is hydrogen sulfide. According to rough estimates, the total content of hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea can reach 4.6 billion tons, which, in turn, serves as a potential source of 270 million tons of hydrogen!
Several methods of hydrogen sulfide decomposition to obtain hydrogen and sulfur (H2S H2 + S - Q) have been patented, including contacting a hydrogen sulfide-containing gas through a layer of solid material capable of decomposing it with the release of hydrogen and the formation of sulfur-containing compounds on the surface of the material, at a pressure of 15 atmospheres and a temperature of 400oС.
The most promising is the development of special hydrophobic membrane filters that separate hydrogen from other gases right at depth. After all, the smallest molecules easily seep through metals and even in granite masses colonies of bacteria that feed on hydrogen live!
Let's dream … Let's imagine that in ten years on one of the capes of the southern coast of Crimea, where the seabed drops sharply to depths of more than 200 meters, a small station will be built. Sleeves of pipes will stretch to it from the sea, at the ends of which there will be hydrogen sulfide separators. After purification, hydrogen will be supplied to the network of motor transport filling stations and to the cogeneration thermal power plant. A farm will be located near the plant, where anaerobic microorganisms will be grown in a hydrogen atmosphere, the mitosis of which occurs an order of magnitude faster than their usual counterparts. Their biomass will be used to produce livestock feed and fertilizers.
The world is inexorably entering the hydrogen era
Sergei Glazyev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, emphasized: “Each of Kondratyev's economic cycles is characterized by its own energy carrier: first, firewood (organic carbon), coal (carbon), then oil and fuel oil (heavy hydrocarbons), then gasoline and kerosene (medium hydrocarbons), now gas (light hydrocarbons), and pure hydrogen should become the main energy carrier of the next economic cycle!"
The applications of hydrogen are vast, multifaceted, energetically beneficial, environmentally friendly, and very promising. Our children will already drive production cars powered by hydrogen, use diamond microprocessors made using hydrogen technology, metallic hydrogen will revolutionize astronautics, and the development of Rossi's reactors - in power engineering!
The recognition of the theory of the initially hydride Earth (V. N. Larin) will lead to the discovery of fossil deposits of H2, which will greatly reduce the cost of obtaining it. And despite the resistance of the oil lobbyists "suffocating" the Earth with harmful emissions, we are inevitably entering the hydrogen era!
Author: Igor Dabakhov