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by mirimir
2456 days ago
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Simplistically, isn't this basically using the carbon from CO2 as a "carrier" for PV hydrogen? There's certainly a substantial efficiency hit. But there are also substantial challenges to displacing aviation fuel with hydrogen. But then, it's also arguable that PV hydrogen is itself a "carrier" for PV electricity. So then the alternative is batteries. As much as I love electricity, I doubt that battery technology will ever achieve the energy densities of hydrocarbon fuels. |
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Straigh molecular hydrogen is brutally difficult to work with. It is hard to store (high pressures and/or low temperatures), bulky, embrittles metals, and is violently explosive.
Synthetic analogues of fossil fuels (kerosene, petrol) are chemically virtually identical to what we've been using for the past century of powered flight (and should actually be cleaner/purer). There are few unknowns, safety is quite high, and the storage, handling, and combustion properties are well-understood and excellent for the application.
Powering FT fuel synthesis via photovoltaic or other solar processes could certainly work.