Hydrogen fuel, which produces no heat-trapping air pollution at the point of use, could be the future of clean energy. But first, some of the technology around still has to be improved, and researchers at the University of Alberta believe they have made an important step in that direction, AL Circle reported.
The breakthrough out of the University of Alberta is a new alloy material — dubbed AlCrTiVNi5 — that consists of metals such as aluminum and nickel. The alloy has great potential for coating surfaces that have to endure extremely high temperatures, such as gas turbines, power stations, airplane engines, and hydrogen combustion engines.
Hydrogen combustion engines are different from fuel cells, which also run on hydrogen. They are being used to develop cars that run on clean energy. While fuel cells rely on a chemical process to convert hydrogen into electricity, hydrogen combustion engines burn hydrogen fuel, creating energy via combustion, just like a traditional gas-powered car (but without all the pollution).
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Both hydrogen combustion engines and fuel cells are viable, clean energy alternatives to traditional gas-powered cars, and both still have drawbacks that scientists and researchers must find ways to overcome.
"As we move toward a 100% hydrogen combustion engine, we want to know which alloys can withstand the conditions. None of the existing ones did, but we learn valuable insights from these failures. This alloy outperforms anything else on the market right now. It opens the door for new possibilities and will hopefully advance the Canadian hydrogen economy," project supervisor Jing Liu said.
Other hurdles for hydrogen-powered cars to clear include creating hydrogen fuel that does not produce large amounts of planet-overheating air pollution while being manufactured. Nearly all the hydrogen fuel being made at present involves a process that relies on methane, a potent heat-trapping gas. While there are also processes that produce hydrogen fuel cleanly, they are mostly considered prohibitively expensive.
This is not an unsolvable problem, however, and scientists are working steadily to figure out a way for hydrogen to truly become the clean, renewable energy source of the future.
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