American Chemists review hydrogen from ethanol technology.

[NNadir]

"Approximately 80% of the present world energy demand comes from fossil fuels.1 Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen gas (H2) burns cleanly, without emitting any environmental pollutants.2 In addition, H2 is also abundantly available in the universe and possesses the highest energy content per unit of weight (i.e, 120.7 kJ/ g), compared to any of the known fuels. H2 is considered to be the energy carrier of the future1 and could have an important role in reducing environmental emissions. The shifting of fuels used all over the world from solid to liquid to gas, and the “decarbonization” trend that has accompanied it, implies that the transition to H2 energy seems inevitable.3,4 Consequently, there has been a surge in funding devoted for research on the production, distribution, storage, and use of H2 worldwide, and especially the countries such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan.5-7 However, H2 has its own problems, and there is a strong debate on the subject. Some critics doubt that H2 is the right solution for the energy-related environmental, security, and sustainability issues. They argue that the current technology for producing H2 as an energy carrier is too costly and wasteful of energy.8-11 According to Romm,12 there are two important pillars on which the H2 economy rests on: pollution-free sources for the H2 generation, and fuel cells for converting the H2 to useful energy efficiently. This paper examines the first pillar, through the production of H2 from ethanol (C2H5OH), which is a renewable source that would contribute to net-zero carbon dioxide CO2) emissions."

From the ASAP section of the American Chemical Society journal Energy and Fuels. Here is the link to the abstract, from which subscribers can access the text: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/enfuem/asap/abs/ef0500538.html

I don't happen to believe that the last sentence is the abstract is particularly true. There has been considerable debate on the subject here at DU and elsewhere.

[Viking12]

1. It appears the authors are referring narrowly to the conversion process

as opposed to the full life-cycle when claiming "net-zero carbon dioxide CO2 emissions" particualrly as compared with the conversion of natural gas or other bound forms of H2.

"However, hydrogen production from natural gas is always associated with the emission of greenhouse gases and local pollutants. On
the other hand, H2 production from ethanol steam reforming would not only be environmentally friendly, but also would open a new opportunity for the utilization of the renewable resources that are globally available."

[NNadir]

2. Yeah, I guess this is a case of "spin" in a scientific journal.

It's not particularly satisfying.

[Viking12]

3. Abstracts can be tough.....

"In 250 words or less describe this extrememly nuanced study."

Unfortunately, most of the nuance gets lost, but that's why they publish the full article.


On edit: If one were to take H2 seriously (I particularly don't), I do think it was helpful of the authors to point out the GHG potential of other potential H2 sources (you know, the dirty sources promote by ShrubCo).

[NNadir]

4. Well there is a certain irony in this paper, when you think of hydrogen.

I have always thought it would be desirable to go the other way, i.e, make hydrogen, a difficult to store and transport gas into a liquifiable fuel (my favorite being DME). These guys, for some reason seem anxious to go in the wrong direction, taking a liquid and making a gas.

One supposes that there might be certain esoteric reasons for doing such a thing, adventures in synthetic chemistry for instance where one is seeking to make compouds with differing numbers of carbon or differing functional groups. Probably the real business is determining a way to use ethanol in fuel cells.

One is happy in a time in which science is under serious threat in the US to see American chemists publishing anything that is not all about coal.

I don't take hydrogen very seriously as a fuel, but I believe that it will a very, very important synthetic intermediate should humanity survive the current crisis.