Yesterday we posted a diary describing the use of stranded wind to generate ammonia for use as a farm fuel and we hinted at the need to use this clean, renewable power source as a means to electrify our rail, something the Russians have already completed.
We received a handful of comments, some curious and excited, while others were dismissive and lacking in comprehension. We don't wish to insult the posters, in fact we're delighted they dropped by, but most of the points they raised were covered in our diary entitled Stranded Wind: This Is The Hydrogen Economy.
We're back today to clarify our story and respond to some of these posters' questions.
First, lets talk about ammonia, the only hydrogen fuel usable today
If we had a source of electricity to make hydrogen cleanly, which we do with stranded wind, pure diatomic hydrogen is the very cleanest way to store it. When hydrogen burns the only output from the process is water.
Unfortunately hydrogen is miserable to store, handle, and burn. Diatomic hydrogen is a tiny molecule, sneaking out like two teenagers in love when the slightest opportunity arises. It must be stored under pressure, meaning the pressurized tanks must be designed to withstand vehicle crash forces and that failures are going to have horrific consequences. It burns very rapidly which means engines must be redesigned for very large combustion chambers. A fuel leak in an enclosed place has the potential for explosive consequences.
Fuel cells are a better way to use hydrogen. We don't dispute this. However, we're mechanical and chemical engineers, wind project developers, Iowa dirt farmers, bankers, economists, and other folks inclined to favor things that can be seen, measured, and built in volumes today. No one can explain to us how this can be done with fuel cells to our satisfaction. We're not trying to pick a fight with you fuel cell guys, on the contrary we'd do a little dance if you got it all sorted out, but we have a bias for action, so we do what we already know.
Ammonia is an excellent hydrogen carrier. One nitrogen atom, three hydrogen atoms, 17.6% hydrogen by weight, stable and transportable in simple steel nurse tanks, transportable in the 3,100 mile ammonia pipeline network that already spans the Midwest, dispensable from 800 stations in Iowa and perhaps four times that many totally scattered throughout corn country, and a hazardous substance that our nation's farmers are already trained to handle safely.
Ammonia packs about 40% of the energy of diesel. Combustion wise it is very similar to diesel, working within the dimensions and compressions of existing engines. Change the piston rings, the head, replace the liquid fuel manifold with a dual gas feed to handle the 95% ammonia/ 5% propane mixture, and you're off and running. Understand what this means; no fuel cells, no precious metals, no research. The community colleges in the state of Iowa is already have engine mechanics programs and farm safety classes. The conversion requirements for ammonia as a fuel will generate local jobs and go very easy on our resources.
Don't imagine this is theory. The ammonia tank on the right contains more hydrogen than the large hydrogen tanker on the left. Both have lines running into the Hydrogen Engine Center's dynamometer room in their Algona, Iowa factory.
Next lets talk about how we might make ammonia without releasing carbon dioxide.
The students from the Iowa Lakes Community College who have graduated from the wind energy program, the only community college program in the country with their very own industrial sized wind turbine, are ready to build.
The building will happen in that pretty gold corner of the state of Iowa first, then it will spread to the areas around there. We've got about a gigawatt of wind here now and room to easily expand by 14x that amount. No NIMBYs or BANANAs either - the people with the fancy homes on the west side of Lake Okoboji are delighted by the Clipper Wind Turbine Farm going up in the fields just west of them.
The state of Iowa has a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature. While the nation wallows with the Bush administration we dash forward. We at Stranded Wind hope to steer the use of the $100,000,000 the Iowa Office of Energy Independence is going to make available for renewable energy projects.
Some common concerns that are already resolved:
There will be toxic gas and/or nitrous oxide compounds in the exhaust of ammonia engines.
Nope. Ammonia burns cleaner than gasoline when you get the fuel/air mixture right and a plain ol' catalytic converter like the one on your car cleans up the rest of the stuff. Ammonia engines undergo the same emissions testing other types of engines do.
There isn't a clean way to produce ammonia.
Except for stranded wind.
There isn't an infrastructure for distributing hydrogen.
No, there isn't, but we've got a 3,100 mile national ammonia pipeline network that feeds thousand of cooperatives where ammonia is already sold as a fertilizer.
Isn't that stuff used to make crystal meth?
Yup. But the local meth production has been choked off by restricting access to ephedrine. This is a red herring but the oil industry will be in there dog whistling away just as soon as people understand that ammonia is a clean, renewable farm fuel. Farmers lock their nurse tank valves now to discourage theft and every year we have a couple of deaths from speed freaks who don't know the safety procedures trying to make off with grill sized propane tanks full of the stuff. Ammonia theft is less of a problem than gasoline purchase drive offs.
I don't understand how this is going to be used in my car.
It won't. Ever. Ammonia is a farm fuel for those who are trained to handle it.
George Bush prattles on about the hydrogen economy and we all know it is a distraction.
We love George. He has gone and planted this "hydrogen economy" meme intending it as a distraction, but we're going to take it away from him, weld it to the concept of "stranded wind", and wield it like a giant scalpel, cutting big oil out of agriculture and providing activists in other areas a big win they can leverage to do things for their part of the country.
Conclusions:
Oil production peaked either in May of 2005 or September of 2005 depending on which set of numbers you inspect. We had a record low sea ice area in the arctic this summer ... and then another 25% of it let go in a week.
We do not have any more time to waste.
We would be delighted to see people from states with wind energy going to Stranded Wind and signing up to help push this stuff at home.
We will have a Democratic President, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic House in one short year, but that won't fix the corruption problem and the oil companies will still wield massive influence. We think we have a good plan, you'll be able to see all of the details of this at the Stranded Wind web site, and we're asking for your help to keep big oil off us while we build food security for the United States.
(UPDATE: I'd like to thank the first three responders to whom I am addressing this update.
xjac comments on the energy required for production and thusly causes us to false start a little bit on a future diary. Be assured that somewhere at a University in the United States there is an industrial sized wind already cranking out ammonia in a pilot project. We will interview the professor doing this work and report within the first two weeks of January. They make ammonia for $700/ton. You can purchase ammonia now for $400/ton at a terminal but in remote areas the wind driven approach is price competitive and will only grow more so as our natural gas production peaks, some time in 2009 or 2010.
The two other responders are frustrated as to the definition of the phrase "stranded wind". Thank you very much for saying this.
Those working behind the scenes at Stranded Wind are engineers, operations, and finance folks who are already deeply embedded in the business. A big part of why we appear at DailyKos in the first place is to spread our messsage and to translate it for the layman.
This being said, stranded wind is ... winds that could be developed but that happen to occur in an area lacking the transmission lines to deliver the power to population centers or industry that can use it.
Does that help? We'll get a definition written and visible on the site, but we're still getting our legs under us regarding the use of the Drupal content management system.)(the definition was completed and posted around 12:40 CST 1/1/2008)
(UPDATE #2
The detailed analysis of the economic and operational issues surrounding wind generated ammonia was completed by a group of people over the last few weeks of 2007. We won't go into the details here, but these will be visible on the stranded wind web site soon, as the Iowa Legislature goes into session in two weeks and they're going to be seeing the plan. We're trying to communicate complex information to several different target audiences and there is a bit of work involved in it.
Ammonia is absolutely not a fuel for the casual user or urban areas. We consider it to be purely a farm fuel and the only effect it might have on overall national road fuel supplies would come if the Iowa Legislature sees the wisdom of our as yet unfinished Ethanol 2.0 strategic plan. You are invited to join in this discussion if you have expertise that would assist in the process.
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(UPDATE #3
Ammonia requires a bit of starter fuel before it will burn in a diesel style engine. Hydrogen Engine Center used hydrogen as the starter fuel in their first prototype but settled on propane for production as it is widely available.
Ammonia production requires hydrogen, heat, and pressure - the Haber-Bosch process, which currently consumes about 3.5% (statistic from memory) of all natural gas produced in the world. We use this method in economic analysis as it is a well known quantity but we are extremely excited about solid state ammonia synthesis, and we're very much hoping to see this promptly commercialized.
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(UPDATE #4
We'd like to thank TruthofAngels for rescuing us, Jerome a Paris for not laughing too much at our initial wind to ammonia plan, and the wind ninjas from Energize America 2020 for arriving armed, dangerous, and ready to make short work of all the things we could not do on our own.
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