Solid Hydrogen Explained (Again) - Is it the Future of Energy Storage?

Corrections: I've trimmed out a couple of sections from this video that misstated some facts about Plasma Kinetics and hydrogen production. I apologize for any confusion around this. As I mention in the video, I'm learning and trying to make each video better than the last. Thanks for the feedback.

Near the end of last year I published a video on solid hydrogen storage and it got a lot of questions, critiques, and push back from some of you. In trying to simplify a pretty complex topic, I oversimplified some things, which created problems. So is solid hydrogen storage actually a thing? Is solid hydrogen currently being used? Let’s take another crack at solid hydrogen energy storage and try to address some of the shortcomings of my last video.

Video script and citations:

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Follow-up podcast:

00:00 - Overview
01:08 - What are metal hydrides?
03:43 - Energy density
06:31 - Where are they used?
09:31 - Plasma Kinetics follow-up
16:03 - Hydrogen efficiency

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[KafshakTashtak]

I have done PhD research on this topic. The Metal hydride we were going to use was very very expensive which made it unpractical. But we shifted focus to Solid State Ammonia storage which can be used for hydrogen storage as well. The principle is exactly the same, except it works with halides. Some metallic hallides can store ammonia at very high gravimetric storage densities which makes it competitive to solid state hydrogen storage. The operation pressures are not high, materials are inexpensive and environmentally safe, and the storage pressure is below room temperature, so there is no risk of leaking.

[cartossin]

Please address all the points in the busted. I know he's snarky, but he's a credible scientist making correct points. It's dangerous to promote disproven concepts.

[gregbailey]

Another popular hydrogen storage method is conversion to ammonia. The technology to do this, and reverse it, makes energy transport via ammonia quite viable, as well as purely for energy storage.

[Mmmmilo]

So: you didn’t do any research for your last video, you were called out, and your response video is just a bunch of deflection and pedantry without admitting that you were just categorically wrong. OK! How can anyone trust you if THIS is your methodology?

[CogsOz]

Nice follow up Matt, which clarifies a few points, but I do have a couple of lingering concerns.

You said, "When the hydrogen leaving those chimneys hits oxygen and combines with it, you get water vapour and those white plumes that you typically see coming out of them." Hydrogen doesn't spontaneously combine with oxygen to form water vapour. It requires the application of intense heat which then starts a self sustaining massively exothermic reaction, ie. it combusts. This is the exact process by which we extract energy from the hydrogen. If the gases in the chimney are hot enough to initiate combustion of the hydrogen (around 650°C I believe) when it hits air, then cooling it to the point it doesn't damage the hydrogen recovery apparatus is going to present its own set of challenges, and may negate the benefit of the hydrogen being available there in the first place.

Secondly, I tried unsuccessfully to find more information about the energy requirement of dispensing liquid hydrogen. Where did you find the figure of 10MWh per ton (the link in your citations is dead)? I may be over simplifying, but simply allowing liquid hydrogen to absorb ambient heat at ambient pressure will convert it back to a usable gas with no requirement for an external energy source. Further the cooling effect could be used to advantage for other industrial processes. What am I missing here?

[brushstroke]

Why can't we challenge a person who consistently puts out unscientific claims he repeats from not so credible or reliable sources?

[dutubarn]

Can't wait for the re-redo, nothing here is correct.

[sapidzombie]

Matt, you are so good at bringing us new technologies. Can you please do a video explaining how the earth is flat so we can finally put that to rest?

[blg]

Matt, there is something fundamentally suspicious about the whole process. It talks about "pushing" Hydrogen atoms into metal's chrystalline structure creating hydrides. That implied absorbsion, like water gets absobed into a sponge. But a sponge filled with water remains a sponge with water filling up the gaps. Hydrides however, are a totally different beast. Hydrides are not metal anymore with chrystalline gaps filled with Hydrogen, they are chemical compounds of metal and Hydrogen, a result of a chemical reaction. Saying that that Hydrogen is pushed into metal structure making hydrides is the same as saying Chlorine is pushed into chystalline structure of Sodium creating table salt! Salt is not Sodium anymore, just like hydrides are not metals anymore. So, to release Hydrogen from hydrides you need to overcome not crystal bonds, but chemical ones. You are aware of the amount of energy needed to release Chlorine from salt, don't you? Unless a chemical compound is unstable (eg explosive or combustible) the bonds are strong so not sure where such low energy requirement calculations come for. Could you please clarify if you can.

[fightocondria]

Maybe it would be worth while to have you and TF talk this one out? I'd watch that video.

I felt like this screamed scam tech the first time around. You may have had the wool pulled over your eyes mate.

[chrisbarrett]

As an investor of multiple decades, I have been interested in Hydrogen for almost 50 years. I always appears to be just around the corner, but the corner never is turned. Holy grail of renewable energy, or fool's gold? My head says that at some point a true breakthrough will occur, and be it hydrogen, or some form of fusion, or something out of left field. Just hopefully some energy platform that has little or no impact on the earth, and its animals, air quality, and other impacts. The earth takes care of us, but we do not take care of this earth, that must change. An excellent follow up and no reason to apologize. The field is changing rapidly, so picking the new ideas out of all of them out there is not easy, especially in a changing environment.

[hermannabt]

I'm looking forward to Thunderf00t's video on this.

[idea-shack]

I've seen metal hydrides for hydrogen storage to feed fuel cells in action first hand a decade ago. The cylinders they were stored in used ambient heat to charge and discharge over hours, they merely got hot when charged and cold when discharged. Was impressed. Sure, if you operate at high rates, you need active cooling or heating to achieve the high rates or it becomes self limiting, but it depends entirely on your power needs, you might not need them is you are content to work at lower rates.

[AgenteSmart]

Well Matt, the criticism was not on whether it is possible to store hydrogen in a metal hydride. The critics were aimed at Plasma Kinetics' claim to store hydrogen in some sort of light-actived material which their own video can't choose between being shaped as a disc plate or a rolling tape. In order to be light-activated, it must be thin. VERY thin. So as long as it can't stand its own weight, it will need a mechanically appropiate foundation, which will be heavier than the hydride layer and its stored hydrogen. And here's were Plasma Kinetic's claim falls apart. Along with their stress on "being so good the US military forbid it", which means they pitched it too well, not that they actually made it beyond faking it...

[Kangenpower]

At 8-9 minutes into this video, you show for 3 seconds a 9 MW hour hydrogen storage tank that will be connected to a 1 MW hydrogen power system, that can allow emission free power to the grid during peak power needs! That is fantastic, and worthy of it's own video.

[jamesmaduabuchi]

There might be an economical turmoil but there is no doubt that this is still the best time to invest.

[yeh.]

Son, wheeres my glasses, I can't see the physics from here!!

[mikkoliukko]

A great mark of a man is his desire to learn and honesty to admit when he is wrong. Thank you for a great video

[rolyantrauts]

Thanks Matt great info once more, personally the balance with 'dumb down' & 'science' for me is spot on the mark.

[lagging_around]

Since when do we have H2 in exhaust gases? We have H2O, NOT H2 in those streams.