Hydrogen Energy: Part A

687 Pages·1975·30.677 MB·English

by  Dr. Edward Teller (auth.), T. Nejat Veziroğlu (eds.)

HYDROGEN
ENERGY
HYDROGEN
ENERGY
Pari A
Edited by
T. Nejat Veziroglu
Director
Clean Energy Research Institute
School of Engineering and Environmental Design
University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida
PLENUM PRESS· NEW YORK AND LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hydrogen Economy Miami Energy Conference, Miami Beach Fla., 1974
Hydrogen energy.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Hydrogen as fuel-Congresses. I. Veziro~lu, T. Nejat, ed. II. Miami, Univer
sity of, Coral Gables, Fla. School of Engineering and Environmental Design.
III. Title.
TP360.H94 1974 338.4'7'66581 74-34483
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-2609-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-2607-6
001: 10.1007/978-14684-2607-6
Proceedings of the Hydrogen Economy Miami Energy (THEME) Conference, held in
Miami Beach, Florida, March 18-20, 1974 and presented by the Clean Energy Re
search Institute, School of Engineering and Environmental Design, University of
Miami, Coral Gables, Florida; sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the De
fense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the School of Continuing Studies,
University of Miami.
© 1975 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1975
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011
United Kingdom edition published by Plenum Press, London
A Division of Plenum Publishing Company, Ltd.
4a Lower John Street, London W1 R 3PD, England
All rights reserved
The United States Government has a royalty-free, nonexclusive and
irrevocable license throughout the world for Government purposes to
publish, translate, reproduce, deliver, perform, dispose of, and to
authorize others to do so, all or any portion of this work
THEME
Conference Committee
General Chairman Howard P. Harrenstien
Dean, School of Engineering
and Enviror~ental Design
Co-Chairman T. Nejat Veziroglu
Chairman, Mechanical
Engineering Department
Coordinator Robert R. Adt, Jr.
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Department
Special Consultants William J. D. Escher
Escher Technology Associates
Ray Nell Chungo
Clean Energy Research Institute
Conference Staff
Arrangements Tony Pajares
Arlene Jacobsohn
The School of Continuing Studies
Program for Mary Gene Knopf
Accompaniers Conference Services
Special Assistants Jennie Myers
Pauline Singer
The School of Engineering and
Environmental Design
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The THEME Conference Committee gratefully acknowledges the
financial support provided by the Conference Sponsoring Organiza
tion:
The National Science Foundation
The Advanced Research Projects Agency,
Department of Defense
The School of Continuing Studies,
University of Miami
We also wish to extend a word of appreciation to the Confer
ence Banquet guest speaker, Dr. Edward Teller.
Thanks also are due our authors and presenters who provided
the substance of the conference, related as published papers in
the present proceedings.
A special debt of appreciation is owed to the Session Chair
man in organizing and executing the technical sessions, and to the
Co-Chairmen from The University of Miami faculty for their support.
In acknowledgment we list these session officials on the following
page.
Finally, we wish to thank our publisher, the Plenum Publishing
Corporation for its basic role in printing and distributing the
present formal edition of the Proceedings.
THEME Conference Committee
Miami, October 1974
vi
SESSION OFFICIALS
Session 1. Primary Energy Sources
E. L. Armstrong, URS Systems Corporation,
Falls Church, Virginia, Chairman
D. Wells, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 2. Hydrogen Storage and Transmission
J. E. Johnson, Union Carbide Corporation, Linde Division,
New York, New York, Chairman
S. S. Lee, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 3. Hydrogen Production Using Nuclear Energy
C. L. Richard, General Atomic Company,
San Diego, California, Chairman
H. Plass, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 4. Metal Hydride Storage
F. Schulman, Fred Schulman Associates,
Silver Spring, Maryland, Chairman
W. B. King, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 5. Hydrogen Production Alternatives I
C. Marchetti, Euratom,
Ispra, Italy, Chairman
H. A. B. Wiseman, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida
Session 6. Behavior of Hydrogen in Metals
A. Bain, NASA, Kennedy Space Center,
Cape Kennedy, Florida, Chairman
L. Poteat, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
viii SESSION OFFICIALS
Session 7. Hydrogen Production Using Solar Energy
W. F. Cantieri, American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
Chairman
T. G. Olsen, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 8. Hydrogen Storage in Vehicles
L. W. Jones, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Michigan, Chairman
J. Alexander, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 9. Electrolytic Hydrogen Production
J. W. Michel, Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Chairman
C. Criss, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 10. Hydrogen Utilization 1
G. Hagey, Environmental Protection Agency,
Ann Arbor, Michigan, Chairman
J. Anderson, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 11. Thermochemical Hydrogen Production
L. Topper, National Science Foundation,
Washington, D.C., Chairman
H. L. Craig, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 12. Hydrogen Utilization II
R. Murray, Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater, Oklahoma, Chairman
S. S. Lee, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 13. Hydrogen Production Alternatives II
J. E. Funk, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky, Chairman
L. E. Poteat, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 14. Hydrogen Utilization III
K. Weil, Stevens Institute of Technology,
Hoboken, New Jersey, Chairman
H. J. Plass, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
SESSION OFFICIALS ix
Session 15. Overviews and Alternatives
K. C. Hoffman, Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Long Island, New York, Chairman
R. R. Adt, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 16. Hydrogen in the Defense Sector
R. C. Hamilton, Institute of Defense Analyses,
Arlington, Virginia, Chairman
S. RuQy, Advanced Research Projects Agency,
Arlington, Virginia, Co-Chairman
Session 17. Environmental Considerations
J. D. Sauter, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, UC,
Livermore, California, Chairman
L. G. Anderson, University of Miami,
Coral Gables, Florida, Co-Chairman
Session 18. Panel Discussion on the Hydrogen Economy
D. P. Gregory, Institute of Gas Technology,
Chicago, Illinois, Panel Moderator
NOTE: For this edition of the Proceedings, the papers have been
organized under five major headings rather than being pre
sented in numerical order by sessions as in the preliminary
edition.
FOREWORD
There are three important problems facing the world: deple
tion of fossil fUels, demand for more energy, and the pollution of
our environment. The world contains limited amounts of fossil
fuels. They are being depleted, at an ever-growing rate. Peoples
of the world are demanding more and more energy. This is due to
the desires of peoples to improve their standard of living--and
the standard of living is directly proportional to the energy con
sumed. In addition, the world is demanding a cleaner environment
to live in. Many of us, scientists and engineers, believe that
replacing fossil fuels with the inexhaustible and clean synthetic
fuel, hydrogen (produced from non-fossil primary sources of energy)
will answer the above problems.
Hydrogen, as the fUel of the post-fossil-fUel era, was pre
dicted more than a hundred years ago by that great forecaster of
the future, Jules Verne, in his novel The Mysterious Island:
Water decomposed into its primitive elements, and decom
posed doubtless by electricity, which will then have
become a powerful and manageable force. • • . Yes, my
friends, I believe that water will one day be employed
as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen, which constitute it,
used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible
source of heat and light of an intensity, of which coal
is not capable •.•. I believe, then, that when the
deposits of coal are exhausted, we shall heat and warm
ourselves with water. Water will be the coal of the
future.
Today, two obvious yet pivotal points must be made when one
speaks of the significance potentially of hydrogen-energy, as the
authors have ably done in this collection from our THEME Confer
ence:
1. Hydrogen is not a new energy source; it is an
energy-carrier quite analogous to electricity, and
xii FOREWORD
2. Hydrogen offers principally a long-range or
strategic benefit in the sphere of energy de
mand and supply.
As such, the concept of the "Hydrogen Economy," whose facets
are explored and critiqued within these pages, is but one option;
an important one, deserving serious attention. Yet hydrogen energy
is unlikely to displace all other approaches for moving energy to
the consumer in wholesale fashion. It will, hopefully, become an
optimal "part of the energy mix."
Hydrogen energy derived from non-fossil primary energy sources-
nuclear, geothermal, solar--clearly denotes the potential of evolv
ing into a mandatory non-fossil fuel era. We may find the dawning
of this era early in the 21st Century, provided our technological
capability can be properly marshalled. Indeed, hydrogen offers it
self as a means for evolving out of our inherently self-limited'
fossil-fuel era.
Following up the very successful Conference itself, held in
Miami Beach on 18-20 March 1974, it is especially rewarding for us
to present this formal edition of the Proceedings in view of the
large number of requests we have received from allover the world.
In this way, THEME-presented information relating to hydrogen energy
will form a more permanent contribution to the technical literature
on this subject of clearly growing importance.
Howard P. Harrenstien, Chairman
T. Nejat Veziroglu, Co-Cnairman and
Editor--THEME Proceedings
October 1974