Are there any large investments being made to desalinate ocean water and turn the purified water into hydrogen fuel like NASA’s plan to do with lunar ice water? eli5
In: 69
Hydrogen is not used as a fuel for several reasons:
Cost: It is expensive to produce hydrogen, which requires processes like electrolysis of water.
Storage: Hydrogen is difficult to store because it takes up a lot of space when compressed, soaks through metal, and must be extremely cold to be liquified.
Safety: Hydrogen is extremely flammable, so it is risky to store and transport.
Availability: Hydrogen is not readily available in the atmosphere.
Energy: It takes more energy to turn hydrogen into fuel than you get out of the fuel itself.
Carbon dioxide: The cheapest way to make hydrogen also makes lots of carbon dioxide.
Infrastructure: There are not enough refueling stations.
Fuel cells: Hydrogen fuel cell technology is complicated.
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