Interesting. Not necessarily practical, but unusual.
I had heard about iron flow batteries which also change the oxidation level of iron, but not about burning iron powder and reverting the rust to iron using hydrogen.
I think electrochemistry has better prospects in warm climates, where you most likely cannot sell the heat. Burning and converting heat into anything always has a penalty in terms of efficiency - but can get high power densities. In cold climates where reaction heat is a useful thing to consumers - maybe.
This is a cool concept. There are definitely possible issues that need to be hammered out, but I like seeing diverse ideas for energy production! Thanks for sharing!
Current (pilot test scale) electrical iron reduction is a bit more efficient than commercial hydrogen electrolysis. It may have some as-yet-unknown barriers to commercialisation though.
12 Comments
TWeaK@lemm.ee · 4 pts · 3y
"Large" and "1 Megawatt" seems like a contradiction.
perestroika@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 3y
Interesting. Not necessarily practical, but unusual.
I had heard about iron flow batteries which also change the oxidation level of iron, but not about burning iron powder and reverting the rust to iron using hydrogen.
I think electrochemistry has better prospects in warm climates, where you most likely cannot sell the heat. Burning and converting heat into anything always has a penalty in terms of efficiency - but can get high power densities. In cold climates where reaction heat is a useful thing to consumers - maybe.
PondSkimmer@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 3y
This is a cool concept. There are definitely possible issues that need to be hammered out, but I like seeing diverse ideas for energy production! Thanks for sharing!
weg@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 3y
I wonder the energy cost of creating the powdered iron. And of converting iron oxide back to iron powder.
poVoq@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 3y
AFAIK it is not the most efficient, but can be done with surplus electricity from wind farms for example.
schroedingershat@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3y
Current (pilot test scale) electrical iron reduction is a bit more efficient than commercial hydrogen electrolysis. It may have some as-yet-unknown barriers to commercialisation though.