This is the question that is facing many researchers as they work on bringing a fuel cell to the market to help weed us off oil. The problem that they need to overcome is the fact that hydrogen is a bit of a nuisance to store and the fun fact that it is nice and flammable.

A group of scientists over at University of Maryland working with the NIST Center for Neutron Research have discovered a few interesting things. Hui Wu at the university has been working with combining two known forms of hydrogen storage compounds, lithium amide and metal hydrides.

Both of these have various pros and cons; However it seems when they are combined they store significant quantities of hydrogen but can also release the hydrogen they carry at lower temperatures than lithium amide can do alone. One drawback with the lithium amide is the fact that the conversion creates ammonia. The combination with the metal hydrides lowers the quantity of the ammonia produced.

My question is what are they going to do with this waste product if they can get this to work? Have a storage container for it? I can see it now, “Honey go to the car I need more ammonia to wash the windows.” Will they let this just drip out the back of the car and onto the street, causing who knows what kind of damage ecologically? What are your thoughts?

Written by
 Ken

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