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As a fuel , H has a mass kick the bucket for it . you may sunburn it for heat to replace coal , you may run it through an electrolyzer to generate electrical energy , and you may use it to refuel a fomite as apace as gasoline or Rudolf Diesel . But it ’s challenging to get atomic number 1 to where it ’s needed .
As the universe of discourse ’s light flatulency , hydrogenis tricky to contain . It leak out through lilliputian cracks , and it can diffuse into certain metals , breaking them down . To transport the stuff usually requires condensation or liquefaction , both of which require a pot of energy . But there ’s an alternative : attaching atomic number 1 speck to a carrier particle that ’s easy to move .
The theme is n’t new : So - called limpid constitutive hydrogen carrier wave ( LOHC ) have been around for decennium , and most bank on volatile constitutional compounds like methylbenzene and methylcyclohexane . Those chemicals play nice with hydrogen , but little else given their toxicity and how much heat and pressure they need to free the gas .
A new startup , Ayrton Energy , enjoin it has an option : an LOHC that can be transported and processed at room temperature and imperativeness . And it ’s nontoxic .
“ It really face like water , ” Natasha Kostenuk , co - founder and CEO of Ayrton Energy , enjoin TechCrunch . “ It ’s a safe , non - toxic liquid state . I would n’t toast it , but it would n’t toss off you . ”
Kostenuk and her conscientious objector - founder , Brandy Kinkead , did n’t set out to upend how hydrogen is transported . ab initio , they had a vision of replacing Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel generators with ones that run on uncontaminating hydrogen .
“ We needed a atomic number 1 storage solution , ” she suppose . “ First we thought , well , we ’ll just find one . We were just going to mix pieces from the manufacture . But we could not find a hydrogen storage root that made any mother wit to us . So we came up with a root . ”
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Kostenuk would n’t disclose which oil her company is using , but aver it stash away atomic number 1 interchangeable to how canola oil oil is turned into margarine , which is made from vegetable crude . Unlike the beast fats that make up butter , vegetable oils are liquid at room temperature . To make margarine , producers expose vegetable oils to H gas in the comportment of a catalyst ( which helps help the reaction ) . As the crude oil are hydrogenate , they solidify .
Ayrton takes a exchangeable coming . “ It ’s hydrogenation , ” Kostenuk said . “ We ’ve just found a refreshing way of doing the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation compared to traditional LOHC . ” The equipment that tote up and unloose the atomic number 1 to and from the crude oil is exchangeable to electrolyzers that are used today to bring about hydrogen from electricity . As a result , the troupe can use commercially usable equipment for a large part of its procedure , and grading will just require work up more module , not bigger parts .
Transporting Ayrton ’s oil does n’t need anything particular , either . “ People who are already using liquid fuels , for example , we can reuse a pile of that infrastructure . Pipelines , rail cars , trucks , ” she said . “ I ’ve spoken to pipeline companies that have excess telephone circuit that are n’t being used they ’re trying to observe ways to reuse older base . ”
Kostenuk envisions using tanker trucks to deliver hydrogenated LOHC to an industrial facility . Once empty , it ’ll take dehydrogenated LOHC back to the processing plant so it can be reused .
Ayrton ’s operation requires less get-up-and-go stave trip-up than liquify hydrogen , ammonia , or methanol , Kostenuk state , and a niggling bit more than compressed atomic number 1 . The reward , though , is that the LOHC can carry twice as much hydrogen per litre than flat atomic number 1 and has low up - front costs because it can recycle existing hand truck , pipes , and pumps .
The troupe recently raised a $ 6.8 million germ rung led by Clean Energy Ventures and BDC Capital , with participation from Antares Ventures , EPS Ventures , SOSV , The51 , and UCeed Investment Funds . With the support , Ayrton be after to scale its technology to the point where it ’s make two to three gross ton of H per day by 2027 .
